Toronto FC’s Danny Koevermans (L) celebrates with his teammates after scoring the game-winning goal against the Philadelphia Union at BMO Field on Saturday. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

Toronto FC got its first points of the Major League Soccer season Saturday afternoon at BMO Field beating the Philadelphia Union 1–0 on an 88th minute goal from Dutch striker Danny Koevermans.

The win was a massive relief for under-pressure head coach Aron Winter and TFC which had started the season on a nine-game losing streak.

“It’s nice … different questions,” said Winter in his post-match press conference shown on GolTV Canada. Winter had grown accustomed to a different line of questioning from the media following loss after loss.

The win came on the heels of Toronto FC’s fourth straight Canadian championship title when they beat a lacklustre Vancouver Whitecaps side 1–0 last Wednesday (2–1 on aggregate).

“I had a very good feeling from the first few minutes we started the game,” said Winter.

The Union has also been struggling in MLS, but clearly not to the extent TFC has. The Union came in with a 2–2–6 (W–D–L) record and now has only scored eight goals in 11 games. Without goal scorers Sebastien Le Toux and Carlos Ruiz, the Union’s attack has been feeble thus far.

Indeed, TFC was clearly the better team on Saturday and was definitely deserving of its victory. The team put forth a total team performance. The only glaring area for improvement would be the finishing of the numerous good opportunities created.

“We had a lot of very big opportunities to make a lot of goals,” said Winter.

Toronto, back in its traditional home red kit, took the game to Philadelphia from the opening whistle. Bermudan winger Reggie Lambe had the game’s first great chance but he fired his shot across the goal from a very tight angle.

Toronto’s main starting striker Ryan Johnson blazed a left-footer past the far post off one of the many corner kicks TFC had in the first half.

Torsten Frings, playing in central midfield now that Adrian Cann and Doneil Henry have locked down the central defense partnership, nearly set up Joao Plata in one of numerous great chances for the Reds in the first half.

“We just need to do a better job of finishing,” said Ryan Johnson in an interview with Sportsnet at halftime.

The Union were fortunate to go into the half tied, having seen little from Freddy Adu and company. Their third-string keeper Chris Konopka was having a terrific game thus far despite having seen almost no prior MLS action.

Second Half

Philadelphia gradually began to get a foothold in the match and Michael Farfan slammed a right-footer off the crossbar in the early going.

But Winter would not let the tide turn and made three key substitutions that allowed TFC to regain the upper hand.

“Two, three times … Philadelphia was close to making a goal,” said Winter.

Lambe was withdrawn in favour of Richard Eckersley for some added energy down the right wing. And Koevermans came on to replace the diminutive Joao Plata, who had a lively first half.

Nick Soolsma, who had won himself a place in the starting lineup last season, came off the bench to replace first-round draft pick Luis Silva.

“The roster is bigger, changing players, you’re thinking about changing positional positions,” said Winter

Winter now has most of his players available after some difficult stretches this season. This has allowed him more flexibility with tactics.

Late in the game, Soolsma latched onto a ball at the top of the 18-yard box, got tackled, but regained his balance and drove toward the goal line. He cut back and slid a ball toward goal that Koevermans eventually kneed past Konopka.

The elation was palpable for Koevermans, who ran up to the crowd in the stands, and for TFC.

The win was crucial for Toronto FC who now have a three-week break before taking on Sporting Kansas City on June 16.

Cups vs. MLS

The mystery about TFC is their Cup performances as compared to their MLS play. In Cup competitions in 2012 (CONCACAF Champions League and Amway Canadian Championship), TFC has a 3–4–1 record, while in MLS, their record is now 1–0–9.

TFC’s strong Cup play dates back to last year when they qualified for the Champions League quarterfinals with a 3–0 win in Dallas. They also triumphed 4–2 in Columbus to take the Trillium Cup.

In truth, a 1–0–9 record is a bit harsh on TFC. They’ve had their share of misfortune, but soccer can be a cruel game and a team may not always get the results they deserve.

But good teams make their own luck and Toronto FC’s woes reflect significant problems relative to other MLS franchises.

At least for the time being, Toronto FC can enjoy their status as champions of Canada and their first points of the 2012 MLS season.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Toronto FC's Torsten Frings (L) and Eric Avila (R) put some heat on Vancouver Whitecaps Gershon Koffie at BMO Field in Toronto Wednesday night. Toronto defeated Vancouver 1-0 to win the Voyageurs Cup for the fourth straight year and a place in CONCACAF Champions League. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

Chelsea players celebrate after being crowned champions of European club football. (John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)

Chelsea are champions of European football after beating Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout 4–3 to win their first Champions League title.

On Saturday night in Munich, a makeshift Chelsea squad benefited from some terrible Bayern misses and then made the most of their own few chances to pull off a most unexpected result.

Bayern had taken a well-deserved 1–0 lead in the 83rd minute on a brilliant headed goal from Thomas Muller. But, on Chelsea’s first corner of the match in the 88th minute, after Bayern had taken 16 of their own, Didier Drogba powered home a glancing header to equalize the match 1–1 in unbelievable style.

The match went into extra time and much like in regulation time, Bayern created more scoring opportunities but failed to capitalize. Arjen Robben missed a penalty in what will surely be a night to forget for Bayern’s Dutch winger.

In the penalty shoot-out, Bayern actually held a 3–1 lead before Chelsea’s Frank Lampard scored. Then Bayern substitute striker Ivica Olic had his penalty saved by Petr Cech’s left hand before Ashley Cole made it 3–3.

Bayern’s German international midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger stepped up and fired a shot that hit off Cech’s left post. Then Drogba rolled one in on Manuel Neuer’s right side for the win.

Drogba had nearly become the goat for Chelsea after conceding a penalty to Bayern in the first period of injury time. But Cech saved a poorly taken penalty by Arjen Robben to keep Chelsea hopes alive.

Heavily favored Bayern, playing in front of their home fans, missed chance after chance and lost a glorious opportunity to win their fifth European championship. The giants of German football came into the match having won 22 Bundesliga titles and are possibly even more distraught than after their 1999 Champions League loss to Manchester United in which they squandered a one-goal lead only to lose 2–1 in injury time.

But Robben’s left foot repeatedly misfired and striker Mario Gomez also ballooned a shot in the first half after getting a clear look on goal. Bayern will be left wondering how they lost this Champions League final.

Team of Destiny

Chelsea stunned Barcelona in the semifinals, preventing an “El Clasico” final between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The west London club also came back to beat Napoli in the Round of 16 after losing the first match 3–1. Their story is one of destiny.

Referee Pedro Proenca from Portugal made all the correct calls and deserves credit for handling an extremely important match professionally and without any controversy.

With the win, Chelsea (which finished sixth in the Premier League) will return to Champions League football next year while Tottenham Hotspur who finished in the Champions League qualification place (fourth in the Premier League) will be pushed into Europe League competition.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Manchester City celebrates its first title since 1968 after scoring two goals in injury time to defeat QPR last Sunday. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

The final day of the English Premier League season is usually an exciting one with many issues still to be decided, but last Sunday had to be the most amazing ever.

The relegation battle had to be decided, with Queens Park Rangers holding the advantage over Bolton. Champions League places were still up for grabs, as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle fought over two places.

But the most important issue was the destination of the title with Manchester City holding pole position on goal difference over Manchester United. United needed a better result than City to win the title.

Musical Places

It didn’t take long for the drama to begin as Spurs took a very early lead at home to Fulham with Emmanuel Adebayor doing the damage. At this point, Spurs vaulted into third place and Arsenal had been bumped down to fourth, which is no guarantee of Champions League football next year.

Two minutes later, Yossi Benayoun gave Arsenal an early lead away to West Brom and the Gunners were back in third with Spurs back in fourth.

But the game was then turned on its head when West Brom scored two goals within a span of three minutes as Shane Long and Graham Dorrans found the net. West Brom were up 2–1. Now, Spurs were in third, Arsenal fourth.

In between West Brom scoring two goals, Stoke had taken the lead at home to Bolton, which brought cheers from the QPR supporters at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. QPR could not afford a loss or draw coupled with a Bolton win, otherwise they’d be relegated.

A minute after the second West Brom goal, Steven Pienaar gave Everton the lead at home to Newcastle, denting the visitors’ slender hopes of Champions League football next season.

United Ahead

Wayne Rooney scored the next Premier League goal in the 20th minute, which gave Manchester United the lead at Sunderland sending them into first place. Meanwhile, City’s high-octane offense was struggling to break down a stubborn QPR defence.

Everton scored a second when Nikica Jelavic found the back of the net, before Arsenal equalized at West Brom courtesy of Andre Santos crashing one home from 25 yards out.

The next goal came at Stoke in the 39th minute, with Mark Davies equalizing for Bolton. This was not good news for QPR; it got worse when Pablo Zabaleta put Manchester City in front and back on top of the table, in the 39th minute of their own game.

Then, at the end of the first half came a howler from Stoke keeper Thomas Sorenson, as he misjudged a Kevin Davies cross. The ball sailed into the Stoke net, giving Bolton a 2–1 lead while QPR trailed City 1–0. Bolton was temporarily out of the relegation zone and QPR would go down if things didn’t change.

At the start of the second half, with City looking comfortable with their 1–0 lead, disaster struck when defender Joleon Lescott made a terrible backward header, which QPR striker Djibril Cisse latched on to before firing past Joe Hart.

Cisse’s goal sent United back on top and stunned the home support at the Etihad. But for QPR, they still had a bit of work to do to get out of the drop zone.

Less than 10 minutes later, Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny gave his team a 3–2 lead and third place for the moment.

The drama never stopped, and next, it was a sending off at the Etihad, when QPR’s Joey Barton elbowed Carlos Tevez before kicking Sergio Aguero and then going for Vincent Kompany in disgraceful scenes.

QPR would have to play the last half hour with 10 men against a desperate Manchester City.

Spurs doubled their lead over Fulham in the 63rd minute when Jermain Defoe scored but with Arsenal still leading, Tottenham could only consolidate fourth position.

After the Spurs goal, an unbelievable goal from Jamie Mackie of QPR gave the visitors the lead, taking them out of the relegation zone and leaving City with a mountain to climb become champions. As things stood Bolton would be relegated as QPR led 2–1.

Everton made sure of finishing above Liverpool as they made it 3–0 over Newcastle when John Heitinga scored, although a Tony Hibbert own goal shortly thereafter gave Newcastle small consolation.

Bolton was then left shattered when Stoke equalised at 2–2, through a Jonathan Walters penalty after Peter Crouch was brought down in the box. Bolton was seemingly doomed for relegation.

City Stunner

Back at the top with 10 minutes remaining and United in pole position and City going for broke, the controversial Mario Balotelli replaced the equally, if not more controversial Tevez.

City continued to be frustrated by QPR’s superb defending, and Balotelli had a free header brilliantly saved by Patrick Kenny.

Ninety minutes had played and the fourth official held up five extra minutes at the Etihad, but surely it was too late for City who needed two goals while United confirmed their 1–0 victory over Sunderland and looked certain to claim their 20th title.

But a ray of hope for City shone as substitute Edin Dzeko headed home from a corner with three minutes of stoppage time still remaining. It was somehow Manchester City 2, QPR 2.

With Manchester United players and supporters waiting for the finish at the Etihad, Aguero latched on to a loose ball near the 6-yard box and fired a title winner with literally seconds remaining.

Manchester City won in the most dramatic manner 3–2 and ripped away the Premiership title from the grasp of their illustrious neighbors Manchester United.

Wild celebrations erupted at the Etihad as the full time whistle blew. City supporters mobbed their heroes, while at Sunderland, United players and supporters were left stunned and crestfallen.

Manchester City won their first title in 44 years and became the first club other than Manchester United, Chelsea, or Arsenal to win the Premier League since Blackburn did it back in 1995.

Arsenal hung onto their 3–2 win at West Brom and took third spot. They’ll play in Champions League next year. Spurs finished fourth with a 2–0 win and could still play in Champions League if Chelsea loses in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Newcastle finished fifth after their 3–1 loss away to Everton, who finished seventh behind Chelsea.

Bolton was the unlucky side to be relegated on the last day as their exciting 2–2 draw at Stoke was not good enough to take them above QPR who had lost.

A better advertisement for English football could not be found than the drama and tension that took place last Sunday.

Jamie McLaughlin is based in Scotland and also writes for www.anfieldnews.com. He has twice played at Hampden Park.

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Reggie Lambe (C) celebrates his goal against the Montreal Impact in the Amway Canadian Championship Wednesday night with Ashtone Morgan (top R), Richard Eckersley (L), Torsten Frings (far L), Joao Plata (lower R), and Julian de Guzman (far C). (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Manchester City’s Yaya Toure celebrates his second goal in beating Newcastle. (Andrew Yates/AFP/GettyImages)

Manchester City are one step closer to carrying off the Barclays Premier League title, having overcome a determined Newcastle United 2–0 at Sports Direct Arena in the North of England—the same ground on which they clinched their last top flight championship way back in 1968. The man who did the damage was Yaya Toure who bagged both goals for the visitors.

City are currently even with Manchester United, who beat Swansea 2–0 at Old Trafford a little later in the day. City has a goal differential advantage of eight going into the final game. City are at home to QPR, while United travel to the North of England to take on Sunderland. United need a better result than City next Sunday to take the title.

The statistics favored City as the teams lined up prior to kick-off, having won the last four encounters between the two sides, with no defeats in the last ten. In fact it is six and a half years ago since the Magpies managed a victory in this fixture thanks to a winning goal from one Michael Owen.

No changes were made to either starting XI from their last respective league outings. There was one new face on the bench for City with Adam Johnson being preferred to Mario Balotelli whose days at Eastlands may well be numbered.

First Half Honors Even

The home team began the most purposeful, but by the 10-minute mark City’s initial nerves had dissipated and they won the game’s first two corners in quick succession. Just a minute later David Silva forced Tim Krul to make the first meaningful save of the match.

As the half wore on City took control and certainly looked the more dangerous side going forward. Newcastle’s best chance came after a mistake by Pablo Zabaleta let Jonas Gutierrez in, but Joe Hart was equal to Hatem Ben Arfa’s crisply struck shot.

The Magpies almost cracked four minutes before the break when Gareth Barry had two attempts on goal during a frenetic scramble in the Newcastle box, the best of which was cleared off the line by Davide Santon.

City’s Relief

As the second period got under way, City were still asking most of the questions, though the home side continued to threaten on the break, especially when the tricky Ben Arfa had the ball at his feet.

With the Premiership title at stake Mancini had to try something, so on 62 minutes he sent on Nigel De Jong for Samir Nasri. On the face of it, replacing a creative player with a holding midfielder seemed like a surprisingly negative move since a goal was urgently required, but the strategy was to give Yaya Toure, City’s match winner on previous big occasions, more freedom to make forward runs.

Only eight minutes had passed before Mancini’s plan bore fruit. De Jong and fellow substitute Edin Dzeko were both involved in the build up, and when the ball reached Toure on the edge of the box after a nice give-and-go, the Ivorian was coolness itself as he placed the ball impeccably just inside Krul’s left hand post. The keeper was at full stretch but couldn’t even get his fingertips on the ball, so perfect was the placement.

Aguero and Toure both had chances to calm the jangling nerves of the City faithful but the Argentine uncharacteristically shot wide with only the keeper to beat, and then Toure lost his footing as he rounded Krul after coming in on a breakaway.

With just a minute of regulation time remaining the result was finally put beyond doubt. Trying to get something out of the game Newcastle committed players forward, but when they lost possession City broke free, and who was there to round off the attack but that man Yaya Toure.

In the wake of their midweek exploits at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, Newcastle understandably looked to be tiring as the second half drew to a close, but to their credit, they refused to give up and Joe Hart was called upon to make saves from both Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi in stoppage time. The dynamic Papiss Cisse had a quiet game after scoring 13 goals in his prior 12 games.

The City and England keeper kept his 17th clean sheet of the season and so will carry off the golden glove award for this campaign. Hart’s closest rival was in fact the man at the other end of the pitch. Tim Krul had 15 clean sheets to his name at the start of play but with only one match left can not now overtake Hart.

Interviewed on Fox Sports at the conclusion of the match Hart said, “We’ve earned the right to be where we are,” but was quick to remind everyone that there was still one round of matches left to play so nothing could be taken for granted.

The relief on the faces of the long suffering City supporters who had traveled north was there for all to see, but nobody is celebrating too hard just yet. This has been a season of the most remarkable twists and turns and City have still to face Queen’s Park Rangers next Sunday.

Rangers, themselves desperate for points to stave off relegation are, of course managed by Mark Hughes who was sacked to make way for current City boss Roberto Mancini. Hughes, along with fellow City rejects Joey Barton and Sean Wright-Phillips, would like nothing better than to put one over on the sky blues.

Mancini echoed Hart’s comments, as reported on ESPN Soccernet.com: “Today was difficult because Newcastle are a good team. I think we deserved to win, but it was a difficult game. But I will only feel confident after QPR.”

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Chelsea claimed the 2012 FA Cup after beating Liverpool at Wembley on Saturday. (Ian Kington/AFP/GettyImages)

Didier Drogba became the first man to score in four FA Cup finals as Chelsea beat Liverpool 2–1 at Wembley on Saturday thanks to more goal-line controversy.

Chelsea seemed to be cruising when Drogba scored early in the second half, adding to Ramires’s opener, but the introduction of Andy Carroll for Liverpool changed the game.

Carroll smashed home a superb goal not long after his arrival, and then with nine minutes left, he thought he had equalized as Petr Cech clawed his effort back onto the crossbar.

Linesman Andrew Garratt was not sure if the ball had crossed the line so referee Phil Dowd could not give it.

Carroll also had a goal bound effort blocked in stoppage time as Chelsea hung on for their fourth FA Cup in six seasons.

The win gave Roberto Di Matteo his first piece of silverware as a manager in what could turn out to be a glorious double later this month as Chelsea face Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.

Blues Win
Ramires gave Chelsea the early lead when he raced past Jose Enrique before smashing the ball past Reina at his near post.

The goal came after a very cagey opening, but Liverpool knew they would have to respond to this setback. But Liverpool struggled to make any headway as lone striker Luis Suarez was being left isolated up front.

Craig Bellamy had an effort well blocked by Branislav Ivanovic and Suarez headed over from a Jordan Henderson knock down, but Liverpool were not troubling Chelsea.

Chelsea doubled their lead early in the second half when Frank Lampard found Drogba just inside the Liverpool area, and the striker rattled a shot through Martin Skrtel’s legs and just inside the far post with Reina beaten.

It was Drogba’s eighth goal in as many Wembley appearances.

As reported on ESPN Soccernet, Drogba told ITV: “Liverpool are a difficult team to play. Today we achieved a great result because, after losing the game against Newcastle, it was very difficult for us.”

Dalglish sent on Carroll to change Liverpool’s fortunes, and he made an immediate impact when he smashed a shot into the roof of Cech’s net after turning John Terry inside out.

Liverpool was suddenly galvanized by this goal as Chelsea looked to be cruising to an easy FA Cup victory.

Carroll then set-up Henderson, but his drilled half-volley went wide of the target.

Liverpool was convinced they had equalised nine minutes from time when Carroll’s headed effort was clawed out and onto the bar by Cech, but the officials ruled that the ball had not crossed the line.

“I thought it was over the line. I thought it hit the other side of the bar. We were unlucky. We had a few chances but we couldn’t put them away. It wasn’t to be,” said Carroll as reported on ESPN Soccernet.

Chelsea held on for the win but Liverpool pushed them all the way and the game will probably be remembered for another moment of goal-line controversy.

Jamie McLaughlin is based in Scotland and also writes for www.anfieldnews.com. He has twice played at Hampden Park.

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Vincent Kompany rises above the Manchester United defenders to put Manchester City ahead. (Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images)

Manchester City downed their archrivals Manchester United 1–0 on Monday to take over first place in the English Premier League with two games left to be played. City captain Vincent Kompany scored the game’s only goal with a powerful header in the first half.

It was called arguably the biggest English Premier League match ever—the Manchester Derby between Manchester United and Manchester City with the title up for grabs. According to ESPN, 650 million viewers around the world would be tuning in. Diego Maradona was even in attendance, no doubt hoping his son-in-law Sergio Aguero would score.

City began the day in second place, three points behind United, needing a win to keep their title hopes alive. United would have been happy with a draw.

If Manchester United wants to get their 20th title, it will have to go through their “noisy neighbors” Manchester City. City, meanwhile, won its last title in 1968—one of only two titles.

Just three weeks ago, United were ahead by eight points, but they lost away to Wigan and were coming off an incredible 4–4 draw at home to Everton after leading by two goals with just seven minutes left to play.

Starting Lineups

Roberto Mancini opted to start Carlos Tevez, who had been key to City’s resurgence despite his love-hate relationship with the club. Tevez had taken on the role of the enigmatic Mario Balotelli who was named to the substitute’s bench.

Sir Alex Ferguson chose to go with his “European away” formation, playing a 4–5–1 setup with the Korean Ji-Sung Park in the lineup. The lineup would hamper United’s attacking efforts, especially without winger Antonio Valencia in the starting XI. Ferguson relied on his veterans Paul Scholes, 37, and Ryan Giggs, 38, who have served him so well over the years.

United began the game brightly but City wrested control with their short passing possession game. With the likes of Samir Nasri and David Silva probing the staunch United defense for weaknesses, City were largely frustrated.

But on their sixth corner of the first half, in injury time, Kompany rose above his markers and headed past David De Gea in the United goal. City had taken a well-deserved 1–0 lead as defenders Chris Smalling and Rio Ferdinand failed to deal with Kompany and De Gea had no chance.

Kompany had been sent off in the FA Cup third round Manchester Derby clash that United had won 3–2. His leap of joy after scoring the goal delighted the City fans.

City had been the better side and now United would be forced to attack, making for an entertaining proposition for the millions of viewers.

In the second half, Mancini brought on Dutch hard man Nigel De Jong in place of Tevez in the 68th minute for better cover on defense.

The tensions were palpable as the game wore on and even the two managers Ferguson and Mancini got into a brief shouting match before being separated.

Ferguson brought on Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia to boost the attack, while Mancini began relying increasingly on the counterattack. Yaya Toure, the lanky midfielder from the Ivory Coast, became City’s biggest threat with his driving runs.

United were simply unable to establish any control of midfield and City continued to dominate possession and generate scoring chances even with a more defensive-minded setup.

Five minutes of added time only prolonged the misery for United who were clearly second best on this night.

“We needed the three points,” said City’s Gareth Barry in an interview on ESPN after the match. Barry attributed his side’s victory to “Just being solid, the way we defended, the way we stopped Wayne Rooney.”

Of course, the title is still up for grabs and City face a difficult game away to Newcastle on Sunday.

“It’s still neck and neck. Newcastle have had a great season and are desperate to put one over on us,” said Barry.

And cue the celebrations for City fans as “Hey Jude” and Oasis songs wrang out at Etihad Stadium after the match.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish both struggled with League form as Liverpool managers. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

Liverpool scored a morale-boosting win away to Norwich on Saturday as they prepare for Chelsea in this Saturday’s FA Cup final and a key moment in Kenny Dalglish’s managerial reign at Anfield.

Luis Suarez was the hero for the FA Cup finalists with his first ever hat-trick for Liverpool in a 3–0 win. Suarez was in scintillating form and his shooting was clinical as he punished Norwich for their defensive mistakes.

Suarez took all the plaudits for his third goal of the night and it could be a contender for goal of the season. He executed an audacious lob from 40 yards perfectly to give him his hat-trick.

Another encouraging sight for Liverpool was the return of Steven Gerrard after he was rested for the West Brom match.

Frustrating League Form

Liverpool has enjoyed tremendous success in this season’s Cup competitions, already winning the Carling Cup and looking forward to the FA Cup final.

But the contrast in form between the Premier League and Cup competitions is baffling all concerned at Anfield.

Maybe Kenny Dalglish will need to capture the FA Cup to keep his job, as this season’s League campaign has been nothing short of disastrous.

Liverpool’s league form has been a major concern as they have failed to mount a challenge for a top four place and Champions League football. Most worrisome for Liverpool has been their home form, especially when compared with the top four Premier League sides.

Liverpool has only scored 20 goals in 17 home games in the League this season, which is one of the worst records in the Premiership, with Bolton scoring the same amount of goals at home, and only West Brom, Aston Villa, Wigan, and Wolves scoring fewer.

Liverpool has proved that they can win the “big” matches, but they have struggled to win against “lesser” teams, which has crippled them for success in the League.

Dalglish vs. Hodgson

Dalglish’s predecessor Roy Hodgson and his team West Brom came out on top with a gritty, determined, smash and grab win over Liverpool last Sunday, in Hodgson’s first return to Anfield since leaving last January.

The result added insult to injury for Dalglish in this rollercoaster season. The fact that the much-maligned Hodgson inflicted another defeat on Liverpool makes things harder to take for Reds supporters.

The debate rages on about Dalglish improving Liverpool from Hodgson.

Hodgson came to Liverpool at a very difficult time, especially with the ownership saga, and he was not many peoples’ first choice for the job.

Hodgson never spent as much as Dalglish in transfers. It may have been his transfer policy, but it could also have been that he wasn’t financially backed the way Dalglish has been.

Hodgson spent 13 million Euros in transfer fees for Raul Meireles. Dalglish has spent well over £100 million on transfer deals.

But the difficult start for Hodgson was the biggest problem as he struggled to get results. The supporters were not going to be patient with Hodgson the way that they are showing patience with Dalglish, given his season of inconsistent results.

Dalglish has legendary status at Liverpool and many supporters find it hard to criticize his management skills. He has brought in a lot of new players and spent a lot of money on them, but the jury is still out on most of his signings.

Dalglish has stubbornly persisted on playing new signings Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, and Andy Carroll, although they have all struggled for form.

Many people ask if Liverpool have improved since Kenny took charge. The squad is far stronger than before with the likes of former first choice players Dirk Kuyt, Maxi, Craig Bellamy, and Jamie Carragher struggling to get into the team.

Dalglish has got the team playing a far more attractive passing style of football.

Work In Progress

There is no hiding the fact that results have not been good enough, but in many matches Liverpool have been very unlucky and the statistic of hitting the woodwork proves this point.

Liverpool has hit the woodwork 31 times this season, which is more than any other Premiership side since the year 2000.

For Dalglish to win silverware in his first full season back in charge, with the chance of more before the end of the season, is a tremendous achievement given that Liverpool hasn’t won anything since the FA Cup six years ago.

Liverpool is not far away from getting it right. They are creating chances and at times they are playing teams off the park, but their only problem is that they are not putting away their chances.

The convincing win at Carrow Road against Norwich was an example of what can happen when they put away their chances.

But do the American owners think Dalglish is the right man to bring back the Premier League title and Champions League football to Anfield, or is Dalglish on borrowed time until they get their man? An FA Cup win against high-flying Chelsea this Saturday could be a key consideration in answering that question.

Jamie McLaughlin is based in Scotland and writes for www.anfieldnews.com. He has twice played at Hampden Park.

Chelsea’s Didier Drogba shakes hands with Barcelona’s Lionel Messi after Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg match. (Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images)

Barcelona’s season has fallen apart.

Having almost certainly lost their domestic crown to bitter rivals Real Madrid after a 2–1 loss at home on Saturday, the Catalan giants failed to dispose of a heroic 10-man Chelsea side. They crashed out of the UEFA Champions League following a 2–2 draw with Chelsea in the semifinal second leg at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

England’s representatives in the Champions League semifinal were reduced to 10 men after captain John Terry received his marching orders for an off-the-ball knee in the back to Alexis Sanchez at the 37-minute mark. Two minutes earlier, Barcelona had gone ahead through Sergio Busquets, and when they added a second a few minutes later the writing looked to be on the wall for Chelsea.

Yet Ramires grabbed that all-important away goal in first half stoppage time, which really gave his team the heart to fight all the way to the end.

The surprising Barcelona team news prior to kick-off was that Gerard Pique would be restored to a three-man back line, and Isaac Cuenca was selected to play up front with Lionel Messi and Alexis Sanchez. Dani Alves and Adriano were the players relegated to the bench.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo kept faith with the same 11 players that had fought so hard to achieve the unlikely 1–0 first leg victory at Stamford Bridge last Wednesday.

Barcelona Confident

Notwithstanding the setback loss to Real Madrid on the weekend, Barcelona had to be confident going into this one. The club had gone 15 Champions League home games without defeat stretching back to 2009, and the loss to Madrid was their first setback at home in 54.

Lionel Messi had never scored against Chelsea in seven games and the little maestro spurned an early chance in the third minute when he sliced a shot into the side netting.
It was a chance he would normally have taken and therefore a good omen for Chelsea. However, the visitors received a very early setback when central defender Gary Cahill slipped and overstretched a hamstring. He could not continue, so Branislav Ivanovic had to move inside with Jose Bosingwa coming off the bench to fill in at right back.

Ten minutes later there was an injury drama at the other end when Victor Valdes, Gerard Pique, and Didier Drogba all contested a long clearance by Petr Cech. In a sickening clash, the hip of Valdes crashed into the side of Pique’s head.

The Barcelona defender tried to continue but was clearly groggy and had to make way for Dani Alves shortly afterwards.

All of this was going on while Barcelona laid siege to the Chelsea goal, and the home side finally got the reward they deserved on 35 minutes.

Cesc Fabregas won a corner. Xavi’s kick was only partially cleared by the Chelsea defense and Dani Alves picked up the loose ball just outside the area. He played it through to Cuenca who feigned a shot, then squared the ball to Sergio Busquets who did the business. Cech was out of position and on the ground attempting to save the strike from Cuenca that never came.

Chelsea’s John Terry is sent off in the first half of Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg match against Barcelona. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)

Two minutes later, with his side already up against it, John Terry had his moment of madness. His knee in the back of Sanchez could hardly be called violent and so Chelsea fans will argue that a yellow card would have been the appropriate punishment.

However, it was off the ball and undeniably spiteful, so it is not surprising that Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir opted to administer a straight red. The Chelsea defense was now in tatters and it looked to be only a matter of time before Barcelona extended their lead on the night.

This they did on 43 minutes when Raul Meireles gave the ball away in midfield. Messi broke through, passed to Andres Iniesta who slotted the ball crisply past Cech to put his team ahead on the night and in the tie.

Chelsea Heroics, Barcelona Heartbreak

Showing tremendous spirit, Chelsea amazingly manufactured a lifeline in first half stoppage time. An inspired pass from Frank Lampard found Ramires in space just outside the box with Valdes of his line. The Brazilian duly executed the most delightful chip over the Barcelona keeper and into the net to snare that precious away goal.

Despite the Chelsea goal it seemed impossible that they could survive for the entire second period. The half was only three minutes old when Fabregas went down in the area under a typical striker’s clumsy challenge from Drogba. Unbelievably, Messi still couldn’t open his account against Chelsea as his spot kick crashed against the bar.

Most of the next 40 minutes was one-way traffic, although Drogba did force Valdes to scramble a save with a speculative shot from almost halfway, having spotted the Barcelona keeper again off his line.

When Barcelona finally did get the ball in the net at the 82-minute mark it was disallowed for offside. Just a minute later the breakthrough seemed to have finally arrived when Messi found a yard of space and unleashed a fierce drive, but somehow Cech managed to get his fingertips to it and the ball cannoned back off the upright.

With the game in stoppage time the tie was finally decided beyond dispute. Yet another hoofed Chelsea clearance fell to substitute Fernando Torres just inside the Barcelona half. Having committed virtually everyone forward in a last gasp attempt, there was no Barcelona defender able to catch the Spanish striker who held his nerve, rounded Valdes and stroked the ball home.

By no stretch of the imagination could anyone say that the best team won this tie. What it was is a huge testament to how Di Matteo has transformed his Chelsea side. It was a fighting spirit, grit and determination, and “never say die” attitude that was so evident over both legs of this epic semifinal and so conspicuously absent from the team earlier in the season.

Petr Cech said in an interview on ESPN after the game that it was “fantastic what we’ve done. Everyone played 150 percent for the team” and that just about sums it up. The only downside for Chelsea is that John Terry’s red card, and yellows for Meireles, Ramires, and Ivanovic means that all three will be unavailable for the final.

Purists will no doubt feel that it is a travesty that the word’s best footballing side will not grace next month’s Champions League Final. Yet it is those heroic performances against the odds by an underdog that make football the most fascinating of all sports.

At the end of the day it’s about who can put the ball in the net and, as the old saying goes: “whose name is on the Cup.” Surely, Di Matteo deserves to be appointed Chelsea manager on a permanent basis on the evidence of what he has achieved thus far, regardless of what happens in the final.

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo evades Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano in the ‘El Clasico’ matchup at the Camp Nou in Barcelona on Saturday. (Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images)

Real Madrid took a major step toward sealing their first Spanish Primera League title since 2008 with a 2–1 victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Saturday. Madrid now has a seven-point lead with four games left to be played in La Liga.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal just three minutes after Barcelona had tied the game in the second half.

Arguably the two strongest clubs in European football are in the midst of an intense week with the “El Clasico” match sandwiched in between their Champions League semifinal legs. Both sides were coming off losses; Real Madrid lost in Munich to Bayern, while Barcelona lost in London to Chelsea.

Real Madrid have drawn three of their last seven matches, which allowed Barcelona to close the gap to four points at the start of the match. The hosts had won their last 11 La Liga matches to put the pressure on Real Madrid.

Interestingly, Real Madrid went with the same starting XI as the one that lost in Munich last Tuesday in the Champions League semifinal first leg.

German Sami Khedira gave Madrid a deserved lead in the 17th minute when he knocked home a loose ball from Carles Puyol. Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes could only get a palm on Pepe’s header from an Angel Di Maria corner. Valdes was caught in no-man’s land and once again Real Madrid made him pay.

Barcelona’s best chance of the first half came in the 27th minute when Lionel Messi, surrounded by five Madrid players, snuck a pass to Xavi who went in one-on-one with Iker Casillas. The Madrid keeper managed to deflect it slightly with his hip and the ball narrowly missed the far side of the goal.

Second Half

The rain picked up in the second half. Barcelona re-established its possession game, trying to break through a compact Madrid defense. Barca found one such opening when Thiago picked out the youngster Cristian Tello on the left but he skied his side-footer. A bit more composure from Tello could’ve yielded a goal for the hosts.

The second half roared to life when Barcelona got on the scoreboard in the 70th minute. Alexis Sanchez managed to jab the ball past Casillas while falling down after it had pinballed in the Real Madrid area. This time Tello made good use of his ball from the left in the buildup to the goal.

But Real Madrid were not to be denied—just three minutes later, Mesut Ozil played a perfect ball into the stride of Ronaldo who raced in on Valdes and scored with a right-footer.

Ronaldo, who hadn’t always performed in the biggest games, came through with the decisive goal after what had been a fairly quiet game by his standards.

Real Madrid has come a long way versus Barcelona. From being frustrated and reacting negatively to Barcelona’s lopsided victories, Jose Mourinho has now guided his side to what should be the Spanish Primera League title, barring an extraordinary collapse.

After an intense El Clasico, Real Madrid and Barcelona will turn their attention once again to the Champions League with a hope of having another El Clasico in Munich, which would be bigger than any other this season.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Chelsea’s Gary Cahill managed to cancel out Arsenal’s Robin van Persie in a scoreless London derby on Saturday. (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Neither Arsenal nor Chelsea were able to produce a goal in what was a fairly mundane London derby at the Emirates Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The point lifted Arsenal temporarily six clear of Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur in the battle for third place in the Barclays Premier League and automatic qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League.

However, both Newcastle and Spurs can reduce the gap to three points when Saturday’s fixtures are completed, and both will still have a game in hand on the Gunners.

Interviewed by Fox Sports after the match, Chelsea defender and Man-of-the-Match Gary Cahill said it was “a good result, a good point for us,” but felt that the game had remained scoreless because “the final ball from both teams lacked a little bit today.”

It was a case of poor finishing by both clubs, most notably Arsenal.

In fact Cahill, John Terry, and goalkeeper Petr Cech were the only survivors from the team that achieved that unlikely 1–0 win over Barcelona last Wednesday. With Tuesday’s second leg in Spain looming large, Roberto Di Matteo elected to rest seven players.

Branislav Ivanovic was suspended and David Luis remained unavailable through injury. It is testimony to the depth of Chelsea’s squad that most of the replacements have been first team regulars at one time or another.

With Mikel Arteta now out for the remainder of the season, Aaron Ramsey regained his position in the Arsenal midfield, and the fans were delighted to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain given a start.

Arsenal the Most Likely

Arsenal quickly took the initiative against this revamped Chelsea outfit and could easily have gone in at half time a couple of goals to the good. The afternoon’s first shot in anger came after five minutes when Tomas Rosicky had a go from a couple of yards outside the Chelsea penalty area. Rosicky made good contact but it was a routine save for Cech.

The Gunners came much closer on 14 minutes when the right boot of Theo Walcott curled in an inviting free kick from out on the left. Robin van Persie could only deflect the ball onto the outside of the post rather than into the goal.

Three minutes before half-time it was van Persie’s turn to take a free kick—again from just outside the Chelsea area, but this time more central—and his effort found an unmarked Laurent Koscielny whose looping header beat Cech but not the crossbar.

Then two minutes later, van Persie had another decent opportunity from the left hand corner of the six-yard box but fired his shot straight at Cech.

By contrast, Chelsea was restricted to a few half chances with nothing really clear-cut at all. Arsenal had generally been flat, with the exception of their play late in the first half.

Deadlock

The second half of this match was somewhat less than inspiring and did not really come to life until the final 10 minutes. At the 81-minute mark, van Persie went down in the area as Gary Cahill leaned into him. The Arsenal supporters screamed for a penalty but referee Mike Dean was not interested. It would certainly have been harsh if he had given it.

The Arsenal skipper and top scorer is now officially in a goal slump having netted only once in the last seven games. With 86 minutes on the clock, yet another chance fell to van Persie that a few weeks ago you feel sure he would have buried, but again Cech made the save without too much difficulty.

Two minutes later Daniel Sturridge could have snatched another unlikely winner for the Blues, but Koscielny was the sharper and got a foot in before the Chelsea man could pull the trigger. As it was, neither side was able to break the deadlock.

With this game coming between the two blockbusters against Barcelona, it would probably have been unfair to expect too much from Chelsea on this occasion.

Arsenal was inevitably less content with the point, but will take some satisfaction from the fact that the club is on course to finish ahead of their London rivals in the league for the first time in seven years.

“It was a very unfair result but it is a result,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as reported by Arsenal.com. “At the end of the game we had the chances and they had zero. I cannot remember them having one chance.”

Terry and Cahill were heroic in the center of defense for the visitors and will need to be so for the third time in a week if Chelsea is to survive their trip to the Nou Camp on Tuesday.

Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso tangle in a tantalizing Champions League semifinal between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on Tuesday in Munich. (Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images)

Bayern Munich is one step closer to their dream of playing a UEFA Champions League final on their home ground. A late strike from goal poacher Mario Gomez gave the Germans a 2–1 advantage over Real Madrid to take into the second leg of the tie at the Bernabeu next week.

However, Real boss Jose Mourinho and his team will be delighted with the away goal and must fancy their chances of turning things around on home turf.

Jupp Heynckes, facing the club that he guided to a Champions League triumph in 1997-98, was able to field what is arguably his strongest side with Bastian Schweinsteiger back from injury. German international and World Cup hero Thomas Muller had to make do with a place on the bench.

Mourinho gave preference to Angel Di Maria over unsettled Brazilian star Kaka, and Fabio Coentrao was given the nod to play at left back in place of Marcelo.

This was possibly the Spanish giants’ first genuine test in this year’s competition since their passage to date has been relatively easy. However, their record on the road in Europe against German teams in general, and Bayern in particular, is not at all impressive. Bayern had won eight of the last nine meetings on their home ground with one match drawn.

Bayern Take Lead

Notwithstanding their abysmal record in Germany, it was Madrid that created the first chance of this encounter after seven minutes, but Karim Benzema’s shot was pushed over the bar by Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer.

When English referee Howard Webb is in charge of a match, there are usually a few controversial moments, and the first of these came after a quarter of an hour when Franck Ribery went down in the box following a slight tug of his shirt by Sergio Ramos. The English referee was having none of it, despite the Bayern pleas and protestations.

However, the German fans did not have long to wait for a reason to cheer. Just two minutes later, Real failed to clear a corner. With Sergio Ramos notably slow to react, the ball broke to Ribery who drilled a firm low shot past Iker Casillas for the opening goal.

For the remainder of the half, Real never looked convincing and the only chances they had of getting back on level terms were a couple of long-range free kicks. But they were really too far out, and Cristiano Renaldo failed to trouble Neuer with either of them. Overall, Bayern were good value for their half time lead.

Tie in the Balance

After the break, Real continued to look disjointed and passed the ball poorly. Yet the mark of a class outfit is frequently the ability to make something out of nothing, even when they are not playing well.

At the 53-minute mark, a diagonal ball across the box from Benzema was brilliantly kept from crossing the byline by Ronaldo and flicked back in front of goal all in one movement. Neuer was on the ground and completely unable to stop, ironically, the German Mesut Ozil tapping the ball home to bring the visitors level.

As the match wore on it appeared that Real might come away with an unlikely draw as Gomez uncharacteristically squandered several opportunities to put Bayern ahead.

The striker also had a penalty shout turned down by Webb. But it was indeed Gomez who finally came up with goods with just a minute left on the clock. Bayern skipper Philip Lahm made a foray down the right flank and rifled in a low cross.

Heynckes’ verdict was clear and to the point as reported by the BBC, “I think we more than deserved the win because we played cleverly and intelligently.”

It has been a golden season for Gomez who has scored a hat full of vital goals for his team. This one may well prove to be the most important of all. All eagerly await next week’s return leg in Madrid.

Liverpool's Andy Carroll rises above the crowd to head home the game-winning goal against Everton in the FA Cup semifinal (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Liverpool came back from a goal down at halftime to edge local rivals Everton 2–1 in this year’s first FA Cup semifinal at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Andy Carroll headed an 87th minute winner from a Craig Bellamy free kick, after Luis Suarez had earlier canceled out Nikica Jelavic’s first half opener for Everton.

Although Liverpool have managed a league double over their Merseyside neighbors this season, Everton were seen by some pundits as favorites going into this 218th derby—the fifth to be played at Wembley—on their better current form and being a point ahead of their rivals in the English Premier League table.

With both his first and second choice goalkeepers suspended, Kenny Dalglish was obliged to pick Brad Jones for only his third senior start. Inspirational veterans Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher returned to the line-up after missing the last game at Blackburn. Daniel Agger was preferred to Jose Enrique at left back.

Everton manager David Moyes plumped for the experience of club captain Phil Neville in preference to Tony Hibbert at right back. Steven Pienaar was Cup-tied, and his drive through midfield would be greatly missed. The South African’s energy and competitive edge has been a crucial factor in the Toffees’ recent good run.

Prior to kick-off there was an impeccably observed minute’s silence for the 96 fans that lost their lives in the Hillsborough disaster on April 15, 1989 during the FA Cup semifinal between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

A Game of Two Halves

For much of the first period, Liverpool appeared disjointed and hesitant when attempting to go forward, and were decidedly jittery at the back when put under pressure.

Everton, by contrast, passed the ball well and looked dangerous in the final third. David Moyes’ impressive new signing from Glasgow Rangers, Croatian Nikica Jelavic, was consistently lively and on 21 minutes conjured an overhead kick from around the penalty spot, but directed it straight at Jones.

Just three minutes later, some dreadful ineptitude between Liverpool defenders Carragher and Agger presented Jelavic with a much simpler opportunity, and this time the striker side footed confidently past the Liverpool keeper to put his team one up.

With the semifinal on the line, Liverpool started the second period with much greater intent. From the outset Stuart Downing looked a different player down the right hand side, and with the half only a couple of minutes old, centered a delightful ball which Carroll contrived to head wide when it would surely have been easier to score.

The Reds’ target man covered his face with his shirt in anguish and not without reason.

Liverpool’s defensive frailties had allowed Everton to snatch the lead, so it was ironic that it was another howler that let the Reds back into the match. This time the culprit was Sylvain Distin who contrived to give the ball away to, of all people, Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan had only Tim Howard in the Everton goal to beat and this he did with aplomb.

Carroll Nets Winner Again

Liverpool now had their tails up and Suarez, who has been lacking in confidence of late, was suddenly full of trickery and mischief and much more like the player seen earlier in the season.

Yet Everton were by no means out of it. On 77 minutes a swerving shot from Leon Osman would have probably gone in had it been even a yard to Jones’ right rather than straight at him.

Then five minutes later, Jelavic sliced an excellent chance just wide of the post.

At the other end, Carroll did well to make a yard of space for himself but skewed his shot wide when he should, at the very least, have worked Tim Howard.

Although Carroll could not be faulted for effort it seemed that this would be yet another disappointing and frustrating game for him. However, with just three minutes of regulation time remaining, Seamus Coleman fouled Steven Gerrard a few yards outside the box on the right flank.

Substitute Craig Bellamy did exactly what his manger had brought him on for and curled a quality free kick in the direction of Carroll. On this occasion the challenge from his marker Marouane Fellaini was non-existent and Carroll rose unopposed to head home the winner.

This was the second time he had done it in a week following his late strike to snatch the points at Blackburn.

Everton never appeared to have the belief that they could come back, and in fact it was Liverpool that looked more likely to add to their tally with Howard being called upon to make smart saves from both Maxi Rodriguez and Suarez in the dying minutes.

Having already won the Carling Cup, Kenny Dalglish’s team now has the chance to add a second piece of silverware to the Anfield trophy cabinet and gain some compensation for what has been an extremely disappointing league campaign.

Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta celebrates his winning goal as Manchester City’s Joleon Lescott looks on glumly. (Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images)

Manchester United recorded their eighth consecutive English Premier League victory, disposing of a luckless Queens Park Rangers 2–0 on Sunday. The win puts them eight points clear at the top of the table with cross-town rivals Manchester City going down 1–0 at Arsenal.

In the lunchtime game at Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 15 minutes, and the job was completed by Paul Scholes with a vintage strike from outside the box at the 68-minute mark.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s team received a huge slice of good fortune with the penalty as referee’s assistant Kerry Richards failed to raise the flag against Ashley Young who was in an offside position as the ball was played through to him. In the event that Young was adjudged to be onside, the England winger certainly had a goal-scoring opportunity and was pulled back by the last Rangers defender, stand-in skipper Shaun Derry.

A penalty was awarded and, according to the current letter of the law, Derry had to be sent off. Many people regard this “double-whammy” as too great a punishment, which can literally decide the fate of a match at one stroke. And so it proved on this occasion.

United spurned a number of chances to extend their lead until 23 minutes into the second half when veteran Paul Scholes turned back the clock with a trademark pile-driver reminiscent of his golden years. Scholes deservedly received the Man-of-the-Match award. Persuading the midfielder out of retirement is now looking like an absolute masterstroke by Ferguson.

Interviewed after the game by Fox Sports, Rio Ferdinand was confident that United can retain their Premier League crown. “[We’ve] been in this position before. It counts for a lot. We know what it takes to get over the finishing line first.”

City in Disarray

Prior to kickoff at the Emirates, Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini admitted in an interview with Fox Sports that, “We need to win or eight points is too much.” The manager made several changes to the side that stuttered to a draw against Sunderland, but kept faith with controversial fellow Italian Mario Balotelli.

Sergio Aguero returned to partner Balotelli up front after a two-game absence caused by an allergic reaction to medication. Playmaker David Silva was missing with a knee problem.

Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri were both selected to play against their former employer, so the Arsenal fans had plenty of opportunity to vent their wrath against the two “traitors.”

Arsene Wenger made one change to his line-up with Yossi Benayoun starting on the left.

The Gunners started the busier, but clear-cut chances were few and far between at either end. The best chance of the half came when Thomas Vermaelen just could not get out of the way of a Robin van Persie header, which deflected off him and onto the bar.

The other notable talking point of the first period was a horrendous, potential leg-breaking challenge by Balotelli on Alex Song that went unnoticed by the officials. The Italian was lucky to remain on the field.

Following a halftime reorganization, City began the second period with more purpose and showed flashes of their early season form for 10 or 15 minutes. However, it was not long before the home side reasserted its authority.

On 63 minutes, a typically brilliant ball over the top from Song yielded an opportunity for van Persie, but the star striker’s header glanced off the post. The Arsenal skipper did have the ball in the net seven minutes later only to be flagged for offside.

On 76 minutes, the woodwork came to City’s rescue for a third time, with Theo Walcott the unlucky player on this occasion. How both Vermaelen and Benayoun failed to net the rebound from point blank range only they know, but somehow City scrambled the ball clear.

Arsenal finally broke through in the 87th minute. With City starting to look weary, Mikel Arteta intercepted a loose pass about 10 yards outside the City area, took a couple of strides forward and unleashed a vicious drive that swerved out of Joe Hart’s reach and inside the post. It was a strike worthy of settling any game of football and no more than Arsenal deserved.

Balotelli Sent Off

There was an unsavory postscript to proceedings with Balotelli being given his marching orders for yet another rash challenge. Bacary Sagna probably made the most of it, but the fact is that Balotelli deserved to go, given his conduct over the course of the game.

This was his fourth red card of the campaign and he is now likely to receive a five-game ban with City only having six matches left.

This was an excellent afternoon’s work for the Gunners who are now in sole possession of third place in the table, something that looked highly unlikely during the first few months of the season.

Whether or not Manchester City can turn things around and resurrect their season is open to question. It is the old story that a collection of expensive stars do not necessarily make a team.

As the match drew to a close this afternoon they looked like a collection of dejected individuals rather than a team with any sort of spirit. Mancini is certainly going to have to pull an Easter rabbit out of the hat to turn this situation around, but of course in football you never know what can happen.

Manchester City hosts Manchester United on April 30. This match will be academic unless City can close the gap somewhat before then.

Montreal’s Andrew Wenger (R) gets past Toronto FC’s Ty Harden in MLS action on Saturday. (Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

MONTREAL—It was a historic day of firsts for the Montreal Impact, Major League Soccer’s newest franchise. After having taken just one point from five games to start their inaugural season, the Impact came up with a well-deserved 2–1 victory over fellow Canadian side Toronto FC.

With the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC emulating the poor form of their NHL counterparts the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, the stage was set for one of the two strugglers to take charge—and Montreal did just that.

The Impact’s top draft pick Andrew Wenger got the first goal of his MLS career in the second half after another new face, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, put Montreal ahead 1–0 in the first half.

Danny Koevermans got a late consolation goal for a disappointed Toronto FC, which has lost all four of its MLS games to start the season.

The artificial turf at Olympic Stadium hurt the quality of the play, as players were somewhat unsure of their footing throughout the game. With the multiple seams created from rectangular pieces of turf, the ball bounced a lot more across the surface as opposed to rolling nicely.

The Impact took control of the match when midfielder Lamar Neagle dispossessed TFC’s Canadian midfielder Terry Dunfield easily and fed a pass to Ubiparipovic. The man from Bosnia and Herzegovina side-footed a shot past Milos Kocic.

Defensive mistakes have undone TFC this year and while this one was not the fault of the defenders, Dunfield’s defensive effectiveness as a midfielder has to be questioned after that play.

In the 36th minute, Koevermans fired a point-blank header, which was saved by Donovan Ricketts, after a nice combination between Joao Plata and Dunfield. Toronto FC’s attack depended heavily on the big Dutchman scoring late last season, but so far this year, he hasn’t been able to find that rich form.

At the end of the first half, the Impact was clearly the stronger side although the score could’ve easily been tied 1–1. One critical defensive error had undone Toronto FC.

Second Half

Toronto FC got off to a better start in the second half, meaning play was more balanced, but after Logan Emory was sent off for a foul on the speedy Sanna Nyassi, it was never going to be easy to win the game.

Despite being down to 10 men, TFC produced more quality attacking chances. Koevermans couldn’t get his left-footer into a tight angle with Ricketts in no-man’s land and then a cross from Nick Soolsma had to be cleared off the line.

The feel-good story for Montreal continued when Wenger, who had come on for Italian Bernardo Corradi, went one-on-one with TFC’s Ty Harden.

Harden was always going to come out second best against the former collegiate star, and Wenger put the Impact up 2–0 in the 81st minute.

“Good to just get it out of the way, always nice to get the monkey off the back,” said Wenger after game about his first goal. “It’s great to win. The locker room’s much different. We finally put together a full game.”

“It’s a big moment and a big win for the club,” said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. But Marsch also cautioned, “The reality is that the work’s just getting started.”

“I wanted them to feel validation for all the positive energy they’ve given for the club and all the commitment. We fought hard to get to one win but now we’ve got to continue to push ourselves to become a really good team,” said Marsch about his hard working and positive squad.

Marsch had plenty of praise for his young star Wenger saying, “We seriously considered starting him today.

“We saw some really great things in him. He’s a good kid. He works hard. From the start, we knew we were getting a good player.”

Meanwhile, the frustration mounts for winless Toronto FC after their Champions League exit on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a case of getting back to the training field and starting again really,” said defender Richard Eckersley.

“It’s a pride thing, knowing that we’re just giving teams goals. It’s pride and it’s responsibility and it’s something we have to deal with ourselves,” said Emory.

Montreal and Toronto can now look forward to a week off before their next game after a busy period, especially for Toronto FC. But that week off will feel a lot better for the team in blue, the Montreal Impact who now have their tails up.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Tottenham’s Gareth Bale was held in check by Chelsea’s Ramirez in Saturday’s early English Premier League kickoff. (Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images)

The most disappointing London derby of the season ended in a 0–0 draw as neither Chelsea nor Tottenham Hotspur could find a goal at Stamford Bridge in Saturday’s early Premier League match.

Both sides did manage to rattle the frame of the goal, and Chelsea had a couple of penalty shouts turned down by referee Martin Atkinson, but with neither side able to find a winner, Arsenal are the beneficiaries in the contest for UEFA Champions League places.

Chelsea went into this one as favorites, having amassed more points and scored more goals against Tottenham than against any other team since the inception of the Premier League. Indeed, it is all of 22 years since Spurs came away from the Bridge with all the points, courtesy of a winning goal from legendary England striker Gary Lineker.

John Terry was back after a two-game absence to lead out the Blues, relegating David Luiz to the bench. Branislav Ivanovic was still struggling with a thigh problem, so Jose Bosingwa took his place at right back. Didier Drogba was chosen to lead the Chelsea line ahead of Fernando Torres.

Ledley King’s knees will not allow him to play two games in a week, so Tottenham was led out by Scott Parker. Following his injury time point saving strike against Stoke, Rafael Van der Vaart was given the nod, with Louis Saha starting on the bench and Aaron Lennon unavailable. William Gallas returned for his first start since the beginning of the year to strengthen the Spurs defense.

Stroll in the Sun

Stamford Bridge looked a picture on an unseasonably balmy March day with a cloudless sky the color of Chelsea’s strip. It was perhaps due to the spring sunshine that the languid pace of the first half hour was more what we would expect in a summer pre-season friendly than a crucial league game with Champions League places at stake.

There were literally only two incidents of note in the entire first 45 minutes. At the 27-minute mark Frank Lampard and Gallas tangled in the box, but no penalty was given. Six minutes later Emmanuel Adebayor broke away down the right, left Ramires and Bosingwa for dead, but then over-hit his cross, which sailed over Kyle Walker’s head.

Both teams looked neat and tidy in possession, which is hardly surprising since there was little pressure on the ball from either side. Indeed, neither goalkeeper was troubled until first half stoppage time when Petr Cech, playing his 250th game for Chelsea, was finally called into action to block a point-blank shot from Van der Vaart. Adebayor headed the rebound over the top and the whistle blew for the end of the half.

All Square

The teams did exhibit a little more urgency in the second period. On 57 minutes, a decent move from the visitors ended with Walker shooting fractionally wide of Cech’s left-hand upright. Chelsea emulated Tottenham’s newly found energy and went on the attack themselves, only to have another penalty appeal turned down when Bosingwa was pulled back by Benoit Assou-Ekotto five minutes later.

Eleven minutes after that, Juan Mata hit the post with a curling left-footed free kick from outside the area with substitute David Luiz just unable to reach the rebound. Spurs keeper Brad Friedel had barely moved.

Back up the other end, Adebayor looked certain to score having rounded Petr Cech, but was denied by a wonderful piece of defending from Gary Cahill. The subsequent corner produced a powerful header from Gareth Bale that slammed against the crossbar. The ball rebounded to Bale himself who headed back into the six-yard box where Adebayor was lurking; but it was not the big striker’s day and he again headed over the top from close range.

Spurs finished the stronger and could have snatched a win in injury time. Three minutes into injury time they were awarded two free kicks in succession a few yards outside the box. The Chelsea defenders cleared the first, but Petr Cech only just managed to scramble the second around the post to preserve a point for the home side.

So Chelsea have faltered slightly with a loss and a draw following caretaker manager Roberto De Matteo’s dream start of four straight victories. Considering the club’s impressive record against Tottenham, they would have expected to win this one.

By the same token, given the history of the last two decades or more, Spurs will have been happy to come away with a point.

“It’s a step in the right direction after the results that we’ve been having,” Tottenham defender Kyle Walker said in an interview with Sky Sports. “I thought we were organized, and as a defensive back five with Scott Parker in there, I’m pleased with the point.

“It was a bit of a nervy start for both teams…We wanted three points,” Cahill said in an interview with ESPN.

Toronto FC’s Torsten Frings hurt his hamstring while stopping Seattle’s David Estrada last Saturday. The sweeper will be out of action for four to six weeks. (Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Coming off the biggest win of their short history against the L.A. Galaxy last Wednesday to reach the semifinals of CONCACAF Champions League, Toronto FC got a stern reminder that road wins in Major League Soccer (MLS) are hard to come by.

That being said, the 2012 MLS season holds much promise given the confidence generated by beating L.A.

Toronto FC played its league opener at CenturyLink Field in Seattle last Saturday against the Sounders who were coming off a 6–1 drubbing at the hands of Santos Laguna in Mexico.

Seattle responded to their loss with a convincing 3–1 win over TFC in a matchup of two teams coming off contrasting fortunes.

“What we have done against L.A. is in the past and now we have to go after the league,” coach Aron Winter said on TorontoFC.ca. “We played decent but we gave away some goals so easy and we made Seattle stronger.”

While TFC’s Champions League saga picks up again on March 28, the focus for the season has to be qualifying for MLS playoffs for the first time.

Certainly, away to Seattle was always going to be difficult given the boisterous support the Sounders get from their rabid fans; TFC has a poor record historically against Seattle (1 win, 4 losses, 1 draw).

While getting the game away to Seattle out of the way is convenient, Toronto FC will have to deal with something far less than convenient—the loss of designated player and captain Torsten Frings.

The 35-year-old German was magnificent in the two games against L.A. Galaxy and losing him exposes a very fragile back line. Frings injured his right hamstring early in the first half chasing down David Estrada and making a goal-saving challenge. The German sweeper will be out of action from four to six weeks.

“It’s a big loss. That is the biggest loss [we suffered last] Saturday,” said Winter on TorontoFC.ca.

Frings is expected to miss the two semifinal matches against Santos Laguna. Winter indicated he’ll try and fill the void from within the squad.

On Tuesday, Winter wouldn’t be specific about how Frings’s absence would be dealt with but against Seattle, youngster Aaron Maund came in and got his first taste of MLS action.

“I feel I’m more than capable of getting the job done,” said Maund in an interview with GolTV Canada. “I think we all understand the system.”

Racing to get fit is centre back Adrian Cann. Cann suffered a serious knee injury in training last year and has not seen action since.

“My mentality from the get-go was to get back as soon as possible,” said Cann. Cann’s return is imminent and Winter said it would be “a couple of weeks before he can start.”

Silver Lining

The timing of Champions League with the start of the MLS regular season makes considerable demands on squads. Winter chose to rest some big names against Seattle with Danny Koevermans, Joao Plata, and Julian de Guzman all sitting on the bench.

In came Eric Avila and Terry Dunfield; they weren’t at their best, but at least got some match experience, which might not have happened had TFC been eliminated from Champions League.

Milos Kocic got the start and played very well after his brilliant performance against L.A. Kocic was not to blame for the three Sounders goals and should continue to give Winter selection headaches when it comes to picking a keeper for any given match.

The brightest spot in attack for Toronto FC has been lanky Jamaican forward Ryan Johnson. Johnson is proving to have one of the best left feet in MLS, and his curling strike in the second half is one for the highlight reels.

Johnson has also shown his aerial prowess and ability to work down the left flank and deliver threatening balls into the box.

Johnson is showing peak form and providing TFC with a scoring threat that should get balanced out as Plata and Koevermans find their form.

After two weeks of MLS play, one trend that seems to be emerging is the weakness of the Eastern Conference. The East has a combined record of 4 wins, 2 draws, and 11 losses thus far.

Regardless of their result against highly favoured Santos Laguna, TFC has to be considered a playoff-worthy team in the East. They can show that Saturday in their home opener against San Jose.

The Champions League play has allowed TFC to get their competitive juices flowing early and get the season underway with confidence.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Vancouver’s Jay DeMerit (L) challenges Montreal’s Justin Braun for the ball in MLS First Kick action Saturday at B.C. Place Stadium. (Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

The Vancouver Whitecaps gave the Montreal Impact a rude welcome to MLS last Saturday, handing the league’s 19th team a 2–0 loss at B.C. Place Stadium.

Once again, Vancouver got their season off to a strong start by beating a Canadian team by two goals at home. Last year, in their MLS debut, Vancouver downed Toronto FC 4–2.

The home side got the ball rolling very early with newly signed Sebastien Le Toux in the fourth minute and added a second in the second half from Camilo.

Le Toux latched on to a flicked header from Eric Hassli and closed in on Donovan Ricketts before side-footing a roller in the Montreal net. Le Toux played a withdrawn striker role that allowed him to have the ability to pop up anywhere in the attack.

“We talked about a good start. We knew it was important to take the crowd out of the game,” said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch on MLSSoccer.com.

“I thought I had a chance to stab it obviously and I was a second late. In retrospect, I should’ve just been a little more conservative,” said Tyson Wahl who was at fault on the goal.

Vancouver’s second goal was a thing of beauty. After winning the ball in midfield, Hassli played a clever “dummy” which then allowed Camilo to take a pass near the top of the 18-yard box. Camilo weaved his way in and fooled Matteo Ferrari before placing it in the far side of the net.

The Impact’s first-ever game in MLS did have some positive take-aways though, as they came very close to scoring on a couple of chances. The Impact were facing a much-improved Whitecaps side that had finished dead last in MLS last season.

Montreal’s defence held firm against the Whitecaps for the most part except for a couple of lapses that led to goals. They did not fall apart after an early goal by Le Toux and used their physical play, picking up two yellow cards in the first half, to gain a foothold in the match.

“I thought we continued to play well, created our chances,” said Davy Arnaud, who spent 10 years with Kansas City’s MLS franchise. “Maybe on another day we tie it up.”

“It was a game that Montreal did very well in. They definitely made it hard for us,” said Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie. “It’s a great three points for us.”

The Impact’s best chance came just after the hour mark when, off a corner, Arnaud’s header was headed off the line by Y.P. Lee. The veteran of three World Cups for South Korea saved a sure goal.

Arnaud also had a long strike tipped over the bar by Joe Cannon in the 71st minute.

Montreal’s No. 1 pick, Andrew Wenger, made an appearance in the 72nd minute but was unable to make an impression on the game.

Vancouver came close to adding a third goal in the 87th minute when Alain Rochat’s low strike was tipped by Ricketts onto the far post.

All in all, it was a well-deserved victory for the Whitecaps and Montreal will learn how a couple of mistakes can be deadly in MLS play.

Montreal will play their home opener Saturday against the Chicago Fire while Vancouver stays on the West coast for an away match against Chivas USA later that night.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Bolton’s Darren Pratley (R) heads home his team’s opening goal against QPR on Saturday. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Bolton Wanderers emerged victorious from a relegation dogfight with Queens Park Rangers thanks to an 86th minute strike by top scorer Ivan Klasnic in a nervy 2–1 win in Saturday’s early English Premier League match.

Rangers can consider themselves very unlucky as a first half header by Clint Hill crossed the goal line but was not given, simply because the referee was not in a position where he could make the call, and his assistant on the touchline was unsighted.

Prior to kickoff, Bolton’s 11th consecutive season in the Barclays Premier League found them languishing in 19th place with a meager 20 points and a wretched goal difference of -27. Interestingly, the Trotters have spent more seasons (73) in England’s top flight, without ever having won the title—more than any other team in the country. The club’s current predicament is a far cry from the heady days of 2005 when Sam Allardyce guided his side to a sixth place finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup.

In the early months of the Owen Coyle era, following the sacking of Gary Megson, Bolton were almost as successful and spent most of 2011 in the top 10. Then an excellent FA Cup run ended with an ignominious 5–0 semifinal defeat to Stoke City, and that began a terrible run of five consecutive defeats leading to a 14th place finish.

Bolton started this season with a 4–0 thumping of QPR, but then reverted to the form with which they had ended the previous campaign. Although they did manage to temporarily drag themselves clear of the relegation places in January, it was not long before they were back in the doldrums.

However, the Bolton fans had some cause for optimism as the teams emerged from the tunnel Saturday afternoon with Martin Petrov returning after a month out injured in place of Zat Knight, and both Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic fit enough to take their places on the substitutes’ bench.

Notwithstanding the arrival of manager Mark Hughes and several high profile signings, Queens Park Rangers were just three places and only two points better off than Bolton at the start of play, albeit with a much superior goal difference. Rangers’ priority is to avoid the dreaded drop back down to the Championship after only a single season in the top flight. The West London club was boosted by the return of both Samba Diakite and Djibril Cisse from suspension.

Bolton’s Good Fortune

Bolton started the more confident of the two sides and made most of the running for the first quarter of an hour or so; yet it was the visitors that came closest to a goal when Bobby Zamora hit the crossbar from a tight angle after being put through by a well-timed Cisse chip.

That was on the 18-minute mark, but then shortly afterwards came the most controversial incident of the game. Joey Barton’s in-swinging corner from the right was met firmly by the head of Clint Hill.

For those watching on television there was no doubt that Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan scooped the ball back from well over the line, onto the underside of the bar and out to safety. Notwithstanding the heartfelt pleadings of the Rangers players, the goal was not given, since neither referee Martin Atkinson nor his assistants had a view of the incident that would have allowed them to make a conclusive decision.

QPR manager Mark Hughes’s gestures tell it all in another tough loss. (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

“A lot of the lads said it was in,” said Bolton’s American defender Tim Ream in a post-game interview with ESPN. “It definitely looked over the line.”

It is almost certain that goal-line technology will be given a trial early next season. QPR fans will not be the only ones saying that it is long overdue.

This looked like it could really be Bolton’s day, when on 37 minutes an excellent cross from former New York Red Bull Ream found Darren Pratley unmarked and the midfielder headed in his first Premier League goal. When the ball was played in, a couple of Bolton players were in offside positions, but the flag stayed down as they were deemed not to be interfering with play.

Rangers had one last chance to get on the score sheet before the break, but Bogdan saved well with his feet to deny Nedum Onuoha in first half stoppage time. It was all rather harsh on Mark Hughes’s team, who deserved to be at least on level terms going in at the half-time interval.

Rangers Fight Back but Bolton Wins the Day

The visitors finally received some reward for their endeavors just three minutes after the break when Cisse raced clear of the Bolton defense, received the ball and finished clinically with the outside of his right boot. He was clearly offside by a half body length, but the near side referee’s assistant failed to make the call. Perhaps two wrongs do make a right.

“I definitely thought he was offside,” said Ream.

As the match entered the final 10 minutes, some last ditch defending was required of the home side to keep the scores level. Having withstood the onslaught, they went in search of a winner themselves and it was the two substitutes that gave them the edge. First, Chris Eagles had a shot deflected to safety on 85 minutes, then a minute later Ivan Klasnic nipped in to grab the winner with the sort of composure that his team have sorely missed in recent weeks.

“Klasnic found a little hole and put in a good finish,” said Ream.

Rangers had an injury time penalty appeal turned down and so had nothing at all to show for a hard afternoon’s work. They will be occupying one of the relegation places at the end of this weekend regardless of what happens in the other fixtures. By contrast, Bolton will be hoping that these precious three points will be the start of a decent run that will preserve the clubs top flight status for another season.

“That’s definitely the most important game of the year so far,” said Ream. “Getting out of the bottom three, it is a good spot to be in now.”

Bolton has a fairly manageable remaining schedule facing only two top-six teams in their final 10 games. For QPR, however, they must face five of the top six in their final 10 games.

TORONTO—Toronto FC nearly hung on for a most memorable victory over their powerful opponents, the LA Galaxy, but had to settle for a 2–2 tie in the biggest match of their brief history, played in front of just over 47,000 soccer fans at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday night.

TFC held a 2–1 lead until Landon Donovan equalized in the 89th minute. It was a tough pill to swallow for Toronto FC who had bravely defended their one-goal lead for nearly 60 minutes.

“In the end, we were unlucky,” Toronto FC head coach Aron Winter said. “Overall the players have done fairly well. The atmosphere was fantastic. [My] compliments for the crowd.”

The Toronto FC faithful were primed to give their side a big boost. They pelted David Beckham with streamers as he took his first corner and jeered his every move, including a stumble on the worn artificial surface.

Despite the Galaxy’s star-studded lineup with Robbie Keane, Donovan, Beckham, the MLS Cup champions were missing central defender Omar Gonzalez, who tore the ACL in his left knee in January.

Without their designated player Julian de Guzman, fellow DP Torsten Frings would have to carry a heavy load for Toronto FC. The German international took a deep-lying role as TFC basically played with a five-man back line.

But Frings, in addition to keeping things under control from the backline for TFC, orchestrated Toronto FC’s early two-goal lead.

Jamaican Ryan Johnson got TFC’s first with a well-placed left-foot volley off a carefully chipped corner kick from Frings. Then, only six minutes later, Toronto FC’s first-round pick in the 2012 MLS Super Draft, Luis Silva, placed a header just out of the reach of Galaxy keeper Josh Saunders.

The LA Galaxy have plenty of experience on their side and didn’t panic. Just over 10 minutes later, defender Sean Franklin sent in a hard cross that TFC keeper Stefan Frei could only tip. The cross found Mike Magee at the far post who tapped it into the open net. LA then tightened the screws on TFC, but the home side held on nervously.

The intensity of competition picked up in the second half as a couple of incidents sparked some pushing and shoving and even the two benches started gesturing and pointing at each other.

LA came close on a number of opportunities from the likes of Keane, Buddle, and Donovan. Koevermans nearly poked home a high ball in the top of the six-yard box at the other end.

As the match wound down, and tempers started flaring, Beckham took another one of his corner kicks after being pelted once again by the Toronto FC fans. But this time, Landon Donovan pounced on a loose ball in a scramble to even the score 2–2 in the 89th minute.

“We haven’t played together. It’s going to take some time,” said LA coach Bruce Arena about his team’s performance.

When asked about who would be his man-of-the-match, Arena said, “Landon Donovan’s an obvious candidate.” Donovan nabbed the winner in the MLS Cup final in November and came up with what could be a crucial equalizer against TFC.

The return leg goes next Wednesday to Carson, Calif. The LA Galaxy will be glad to be back home where they won the MLS Cup in November.

It will be a monumental task for Toronto FC to get a win in Carson, but their terrific performance at Rogers Centre doesn’t rule that out.

Winter said at the end of his press conference, “I saw a lot of good things.”

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Arsenal’s Robin van Persie scores a header in the first half. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Two goals from Robin van Persie gave Arsenal an unlikely 2–1 victory in a match that a dominant Liverpool should have wrapped up by half time at Anfield on Saturday. The Gunners were kept in the game by a series of sparkling saves from 21-year-old Polish international goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

The side from North London are now 10 points ahead of Liverpool in the English Premier League table and are looking like favorites for the fourth UEFA Champions League qualification spot after Chelsea lost at West Brom 1–0.

Earlier, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had some strong words to deliver on the subject of international friendly fixtures in an already crowded schedule. He told sportinglife.com that Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen had been forced “…to play 90 minutes after being injured… in a friendly game, knowing they do not even go to the European Championship. For me, that is difficult to understand.”

He similarly complained about the Netherlands playing van Persie when the star striker was suffering from a niggling groin strain.

In any event, both Vermaelen and van Persie were declared fit to face Liverpool, who had to do without their injured skipper Steven Gerrard.

Martin Kelly was in for Glen Johnson and veteran Jamie Carragher was called up for his 689th appearance owing to Daniel Agger’s cracked rib, which will keep him on the sidelines for several weeks.

Liverpool Dominant, Szczesny Responds

Liverpool was understandably buoyant following the club’s Carling Cup triumph last Sunday and quickly gained control of the midfield.

The 10-minute mark saw controversial striker Luis Suarez chasing an inviting through ball up the center, but Szczesny was out past the edge of his area like lightning to initially clear with a spectacular diving header, before heading out a second time as the ball was pumped straight back in.

Then on 18 minutes, the Arsenal keeper was adjudged to have upended Suarez beside his near post. Szczesny protested vehemently that Suarez had dived, but referee Mark Halsey was unmoved and pointed to the spot.

The irate Pole then produced an inspired double save to keep out both Dirk Kuyt’s penalty kick and the Dutch international’s attempt to net the rebound.

It was cruel on the young Pole that, after those heroics, Liverpool took the lead only five minutes later when Laurent Koscielny misjudged a speculative cross from Jordan Henderson and sliced the ball into his own net giving Szczesny no chance whatsoever.

Arsenal simply could not seem to put their passing game together and the home side continued to ask all the questions. On 25 minutes, Henderson and Suarez were denied seconds apart by Szczesny and the goalpost respectively.

But with Arsenal’s undoubted quality on the ball, they are always likely to make something out of nothing. A minute past the half hour Bacary Sagna found himself with the ball in a couple of yards of space out on the right flank.

He delivered a first-rate cross into the six-yard area and no prizes for guessing who was there to meet it. Jamie Carragher made the cardinal error of allowing van Persie to get goal-side of him, and the Arsenal skipper headed firmly past Pepe Reina to level things up.

Five minutes before the break Suarez produced a delightful turn and dribble into the Arsenal box but was foiled by another one handed save from Szczesny, which again was right out of the top drawer.

Since the retirement of David Seaman, Arsenal has had real problems trying to find a worthy successor to the former England international. Szczesny is starting to look like the answer to all their prayers.

Van Persie Steals the Points

During the break Kenny Dalglish doubtless told his troops to simply continue on in the same vein and eventually the breaks would come. Indeed, the second half was only two minutes old when a deft flick from Kuyt hit the upright.

Liverpool were consistently sharper in the tackle and generally showing a higher energy level than their opponents all over the park. But they just couldn’t finish their chances.

Arsenal’s apparent woes were compounded when Mikel Arteta was stretchered off following an accidental collision with Jordon Henderson.

Abou Diaby came off the bench to replace Arteta for his first appearance in four months following persistent hamstring and ankle trouble.

With Diaby making some telling passes, Arsenal started to look more the part, but after less than half an hour on the pitch the luckless Diaby suffered a tightening of that troublesome hamstring and he was forced to give way to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

At this point, an interesting statistic that rather told the tale of the match thus far was the corner count which stood at Liverpool 13 Arsenal 0!

The long delay during which Arteta received treatment for a severe concussion before being taken off meant that there would be a full eight minutes of stoppage time.

It was in the 93rd minute that Alex Song spied his captain in a good position on the left side of the Liverpool area. He played a lovely chip over the top of the defense that dropped perfectly for the Dutch master to volley home a left-footed winner.

Reina would have been annoyed to be beaten at his near post, but the ball was struck first time and sweet as you like.

Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott celebrate their theft of the three points from Liverpool. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

This was the unlikeliest of victories for Arsenal. It was only their fourth win in their previous 19 visits to Anfield where Liverpool has not lost in any competition since May of last year.

“I don’t think we really deserved it to be honest because Liverpool played better,” van Persie told Sky Sports 2.

“It was the same pass from the same guy, Alex [Song], an unbelievable pass,” he added referring to an almost identical goal scored against Everton earlier this year. “This one I hit with the inside of my foot, but again it was an unbelievable pass. Alex is a really good player, he can see it [the pass] and actually do it.”

For Liverpool, it was a difficult loss but manager Kenny Dalglish remained positive.

“I think it’s rewarding to play a team like Arsenal and play as well as we have done, being so dominant in the first half,” said Dalglish. “The scoreline doesn’t really reflect the game. We were beaten because we didn’t score enough goals. Van Persie’s a fantastic footballer, no doubt about that. But we did enough to win that game.”

That final Champion’s League qualifying place now looks a forlorn hope for the Merseyside giants, while Arsenal have received a timely boost ahead of their Champions League second leg clash with Milan in midweek. The tie may be beyond them, but they will certainly want to produce a good showing on the night and restore some pride after the disaster in the San Siro.

Arsenal’s Robin van Persie is closed down by Tottenham’s Kyle Walker in a memorable North London derby on Sunday. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Arsenal came back from two goals down to thrash Tottenham Hotspur 5–2 in an epic North London derby at the Emirates on Sunday. The defeat effectively ends Spurs’ title hopes, leaving them 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City with only 12 games left to play.

“Today we gave a performance that on the spirit side, the technical side, the drive of the whole team, on the style of the game we want to play, everything was perfect despite a very bad start,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Arsenal.com

Theo Walcott bounced back to form with a pair of second half goals that took everyone by surprise. Many in the crowd were calling for the England winger to be replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the second half after a mediocre display during the first period. The switch did eventually occur, but by then, Walcott was the hero of the afternoon having put the game beyond Tottenham’s reach.

In fact, Walcott has been so out of sorts lately, it was something of a surprise to see Wenger include his name in the starting XI. With Yossi Benayoun also given the nod, there was no place for Oxlade-Chamberlain, much to the consternation of the Arsenal faithful. Laurent Koscielny passed a fitness test and was able to take his place alongside Thomas Vermaelen at the heart of the Gunners’ defense.

Ledley King’s invaluable experience ensured his selection for Spurs, notwithstanding those rickety knees. Emmanuel Adebayor returned to his old stomping ground and was partnered up front by new signing Louis Saha, consigning Rafael Van der Vaart to the bench.

Spurs sat comfortably in third place, being 10 points ahead of their North London rivals at the start of play. Arsenal entered the match having lost their last two matches against AC Milan and Sunderland, and a third defeat would have been devastating for the club, especially at the hands of their archrivals.

Tottenham Forge Ahead

The visitors certainly had the best of the early exchanges and were a goal to the good after only four minutes. Adebayor picked up the ball just inside the Arsenal half and played a simple through pass for his strike partner Saha, who opened Tottenham’s account with the help of a significant deflection.

Arsenal attempted to come back but couldn’t manage more than a corner and had a couple of very optimistic penalty appeals rightly turned down by referee Mike Dean. Their first real chance came on 15 minutes when Robin van Persie uncharacteristically skewed his shot wide of the post.

Then on 32 minutes, speedster Gareth Bale was in on the Arsenal goal only to be brought down by keeper Wojciech Szczesny. The Arsenal keeper escaped without a card being shown, but was well beaten by the subsequent spot kick, calmly dispatched by Adebayor as a chorus of boos and jeers echoed around the Emirates.

Cue the Comeback

The way Spurs have been playing in recent weeks they probably thought the three points were already in the bag, but they should have known better. This fixture has a history of dramatic turnarounds and Tottenham themselves came back from two down to win only last year.

When van Persie hit the post at the 40 minute mark it looked like it just might not be Arsenal’s day, but they re-gained possession from the rebound and kept the attack alive.

Mikel Arteta delivered a good cross, which found Bacary Sagna near the penalty spot. Being that far out, the header needed to have power and accuracy and the right full back duly obliged, pulling one back for the hosts.

Only three minutes more had passed when van Persie pounced on a weak clearance, changed direction to bring the ball onto his favored left foot and curled a cracker past Brad Friedel from the edge of the box. The 60,000 plus crowd had hitherto been fairly quiet, but this strike from their main man brought them well and truly to life.

The Job Completed

Harry Redknapp decided to bring on Van der Vaart for Saha at the start of the second half. This seemed a strange decision because whenever the French international had the ball at his feet in the first half, the Arsenal back line looked vulnerable in the extreme.

The Gunners started the second half as they had finished the first and Benayoun soon had Friedel scrambling the ball around the post with his fingertips. Just six minutes in, some vintage inter-play involving van Persie, Walcott, and Tomas Rosicky concluded with the Czech international in the six-yard box at the end of the move putting Arsenal ahead with a deft left-foot finish.

Arsenal’s Theo Walcott scored two goals to put the game out of Tottenham’s reach. (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The game was made safe at the 65-minute mark when van Persie played a perfect pass into the path of Walcott who crisply slotted the ball home with a confidence that nobody who had witnessed his inept first half performance could possibly have expected.

“At 2–0 I didn’t feel comfortable and at 2–2 I felt even less comfortable and the momentum was with them at half time,” said Redknapp. “They came off to a standing ovation and you knew it was going to be a very tough second half.”

A mere three minutes later, a fine long ball from deep by Alex Song
released Walcott again, and suddenly the winger who had two to his name.

“The crowd was starting to get on his [Walcott’s] back and you wonder if [it won’t] do him a favor by leaving him on. But I felt that he has the qualities that, considering the rest of the team, are highly needed,” said Wenger.

Spurs were thoroughly demoralized and never really looked like staging a comeback of their own. The final straw came when Scott Parker was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence two minutes from time.

The defeat all but ends the Cockerels’ title aspirations while Arsenal’s win takes them above Chelsea into that coveted fourth place on the table, based on having scored more goals.

Last Gasp Winner Keeps United on City’s Tail

An injury time winner from Ryan Giggs, playing in a Manchester United shirt for the 900th time, secured a hard fought 2–1 win over Norwich City at Carrow Road.

The victory keeps United hot on the heels of their wealthy neighbors, with City’s lead at the top of the ladder cut back again to two points.

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard celebrates with Luis Suarez in an FA Cup demolition of Brighton on Sunday. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

Liverpool warmed up for their trip to Wembley for Sunday’s Carling Cup final in emphatic style as they put Championship side Brighton to the sword 6–1 in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday. The sides had already met in the Carling Cup earlier this season, with Liverpool winning 2–1. But Liverpool looked greedy for another trip to Wembley by brushing Brighton aside and eyeing up a home tie against Stoke City in the FA Cup quarterfinal.

Kenny Dalglish fielded a strong team against Brighton with Jamie Carragher coming back into the side alongside Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, and Andy Carroll. He showed that he was not going to take Gus Poyet’s Brighton team lightly.

Liverpool got off to a great start with Martin Skrtel heading home Gerrard’s corner within the first five minutes, but the visitors responded with LuaLua blasting a 25-yard free-kick past Pepe Reina. Liverpool regained the lead seconds before half-time after Liam Bridcutt deflected a goal line clearance into his own net from a Glen Johnson header.

Liverpool was buoyed going into the second half with the lead, and they added another in the 57th minute when Carroll fired home a Downing cutback pass with his left foot. Liverpool made it 4–1 when the unlucky Bridcutt scored his second own goal when trying to keep out a Gerrard effort.

Amazingly Liverpool’s fifth goal came from another Brighton player when Liam Dunk tried to clear after some ball juggling, only to send it over his own goal line.

Suarez missed a late penalty after Dirk Kuyt had been brought down, but the controversial striker was not to be denied as he headed in a sixth goal for the home side in the 85th minute. This was Liverpool’s biggest win of the season and one that will certainly boost their confidence with important games coming up.

Turning the Corner

After the match Dalglish showed how pleased he was with his team’s goals tally when he said, courtesy of Liverpool FC TV, “Someone said we had 15 attempts on target. We’ve said we’d like to get our conversion rate up and today that’s not a bad return.”

Liverpool have had a frustrating season in front of goal, as they have created numerous chances in games without converting them, leaving them with far too many draws at home. A number of new faces were added to the squad this season and it has taken time for the side to gel. So maybe now Liverpool is starting to click.

Expectations have been high at Liverpool since the return of the legendary “King” Kenny Dalglish to management. Many people were expecting Liverpool to win the Premiership. Clearly that will not happen this season, but to get to their first final in five years, to book a place in the last eight of the FA Cup, and be right in the thick of things in the race for a top four place, is very promising for Liverpool right now.

Supporters will want silverware this season after being starved of trophies for too long. But the main priority for Liverpool Football Club has to be finishing in the top four and claiming a Champion’s League place.

The money that Champion’s League football generates is invaluable, but also the quality of players one can attract is far greater. So whatever happens in the cup competitions you can be sure Liverpool’s American owners will be more concerned with Liverpool’s league place.

Carling Cup Final

The achievement of reaching the Carling Cup final at Wembley has given everyone connected with Liverpool a massive lift, especially with this being the Reds’ first visit to the “new Wembley.”

It has been a difficult path to Wembley, having been drawn away in every round of the competition and beating quality opposition in the process (Stoke, Chelsea, Manchester City).

Championship side Cardiff will provide the opposition in the final and Liverpool will have to be at their best to avoid an upset. Former Glasgow Rangers striker Kenny Miller will be a major threat to Liverpool as he has been in good goal scoring form.

Welshman Craig Bellamy will be looking to play against his old side and has the added incentive of facing a Wales-based team. It is critical for Liverpool to win this final to boost the remainder of their season and give them that winning mentality.

Jamie McLaughlin is based in Scotland and writes for www.anfieldnews.com. He has twice played at Hampden Park.

Lionel Messi of Barcelona controls the ball during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Barcelona, Feb. 14. (Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images)

When Michal Kadlec and Manuel Friedrich, two Bayer Leverkusen players, squabbled over Leo Messi’s shirt after the game against the Barcelona team they only confirmed what many suspect: even Messi’s shirt has magical powers. The players’ behavior was severely criticized by Rudi Voeller, the German team’s coach who declared, “What the pair did was over the top.”

Kadlec, who scored his team’s only goal in the 3–1 defeat to Barca, later said, “When you play against such a player, then you always want his shirt.” Voeller declared to the German newspaper Bild that he was truly disappointed with the players’ behavior, particularly when “90 percent of the team was fully concentrated on the game.” And Voeller also said that the two players will auction off their Messi’s shirts for a good cause.

This is not the first time that members of the opposing team have shown their admiration for the Argentine player. During many games, after Messi performs one of his brilliant moves, opposing players pat him affectionately on the head, almost acknowledging, “It was a shame that you couldn’t make a goal after this beautiful play.”

Jose Delbo, an 87-year-old Argentine Messi fan who follows every game from his home in Florida, told me recently, “I have never before been so moved seeing a player’s game as I am so now with Messi. After some of his beautiful plays I almost feel like crying.”

Many claim that Messi is the result of Pep Guardiola’s teachings in Barcelona. They seem to forget that as a child in Argentina Messi was already a brilliant player. Ernesto Vecchio, a coach from his youth, declared recently, “As a player, he is very similar now to how he was as a youngster.” Vecchio added, “He decides in milliseconds what he is going to do with the ball at his feet.”

Because of this spectacular speed and brilliance in making decisions, how Messi’s brain works is now being studied by a Dutch physician, Pieter Medendorp at Radboud University of Nijmegen to learn “how people make split-second decisions and know how to prioritize.”

Messi is a master of gathering opposition around him and then threading through them. (Joern Pollex/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Dr. Medendorp is fascinated by how people make quick decisions, particularly when moving. It is Messi’s ability to concentrate opponents in front of him and then almost effortlessly weave through them that particularly interests Medendorp. Medencorp explained, “In the field, Messi knows where to find the others [players] and then decide not only how to escape from a marking or where to go but also what to do with the ball.”

Guardiola, who carefully nurtured Messi’s talent, said of his ability to concentrate several opponents to mark him and stop his game that “Messi plays even when he doesn’t play.” Realizing Messi’s unusual skill, Guardiola has been determined in his decision to make other players work in supporting roles to the Argentine star. Even Barca’s new signings were made taking into account the new players’ compatibility with Messi. The Swedish player Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s expensive contract was canceled because he didn’t get along with Messi.

British commentator Ray Hudson says in his poem titled “Vintage Messi”:

How many angels
can dance on the head of a pin?
How magnificent
is Messi?
There is no answer
It’s like counting the bubbles
In a bottle of Champagne.

When recently in London, the retired Brazilian soccer player Pele was asked about Messi, Pele said, “I would love to play with Lionel Messi. But Messi is an incomplete player because he cannot use his head.”

It is an opinion not shared by the Argentine Maradona who once stated, “He is at a select level, being the best in the world and a star in Barcelona. Leo is playing a kick-about with Jesus.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York consultant and writer.

AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates his goal in a Champions League hammering of Arsenal on Wednesday in Italy. (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)

AC Milan demolished Arsenal 4–0 in their Champions League Round of 16 first leg match at the San Siro on Wednesday. In a performance that turned the clock back to the club’s glory days of the 1990s when the Rossoneri was the dominant force in world club football, Arsenal were denied even an away goal that might have given the London club a glimmer of hope for the second leg.

As it is, AC Milan is virtually assured of a place in the last eight of the competition, barring a miracle performance from Arsenal in the return fixture on March 6.

No English club had defeated Milan at the San Siro until Arsenal’s 2–0 triumph there in 2008. Since then, Milan has bowed out of the competition at the first knockout stage in three of the last four seasons.

Recent history then was encouraging for the Gunners who were also boosted by the return of Kieran Gibbs for his first appearance since October following groin surgery. Thomas Vermaelen moved inside to partner Laurent Koscielny, and with Bacary Sagna at right back, Arsene Wenger could field what is probably his first choice back four for the first time in months.

The experience of Tomas Rosicky was preferred to the youthful flair of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who started on the bench.

Although serving a three-match domestic ban, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was fresh and available to lead the line for AC Milan who also welcomed back the exciting Kevin-Prince Boateng from injury.

Indeed it was not long before the Ghana international made his mark. On 15 minutes, lurking in the right-hand corner of the penalty area, he received a chipped pass on his chest, allowed the ball to bounce once before hammering an unstoppable volley into the Arsenal net. For anyone but an Arsenal supporter it was a delight to watch.

Milan appeared to have suffered an early setback just three minutes earlier when the highly experienced Clarence Seedorf was forced to call it a night with a strained hamstring.

However, Milan was clearly in the mood, and even without their skipper, had no trouble establishing their authority. Arsenal had plenty of possession, but too many passes went square or backwards as Milan constantly put pressure on the ball. By contrast, when the home team had the ball, Arsenal’s players were inclined to drop off and allow the opposition to go forward at will.

It came as no surprise therefore, when on 38 minutes, Ibrahimovic was put through on the left side, reached the byline and pulled back an inviting diagonal cross for Robinho who headed firmly downward past Wojciech Szcezsny to give his team a two-goal cushion.

No Gunners Comeback

Aware that an away goal would completely alter the complexion of the tie, Arsenal fans remained confident as the teams re-emerged for the second half with Thierry Henry replacing the ineffectual Theo Walcott.

However, just as in the first period, it was at the Arsenal end where most of the action took place. Ibrahimovic was proving to be a real handful for the Arsenal back line and on 49 minutes the Swede wrong-footed a couple of defenders before finding Robinho just outside the area.

The Brazilian lashed the ball just inside Szcezsny’s right hand post for his second of the night, effectively quieting those critics who had been saying he was not scoring enough goals.

Robin van Persie did carve out three opportunities to snatch that vital away goal, but Milan keeper Christian Abbiati, who rejected a move to Arsenal back in 2003, foiled the Dutch master on each occasion with two of the three saves being absolutely top drawer.

With 12 minutes to go, the game (and likely the tie) was finally put out of Arsenal’s reach when Ibrahimovic went down in the box under the challenge of Johan Djourou and a penalty was awarded.

It was arguably a soft call, but there is no denying that the Swedish international had contributed a sterling performance on the night and certainly deserved a goal.

Szcezsny got his fingertips to the ball but there was not enough contact to deflect Ibrahimovic’s powerful kick and Arsenal’s drubbing was complete.

It was a disappointing end for Henry’s loan stint for Arsenal, but on this day, AC Milan was clearly superior.

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney was the difference-maker as the Red Devils gained a measure of revenge over Liverpool. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Manchester United avenged their exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Liverpool two weeks ago with a 2–1 win over the Merseyside club at Old Trafford in Saturday’s early English Premier League fixture. Former Everton star Wayne Rooney was the hero with both goals in a victory that took his team back to the top of the Barclays Premier League, at least until Manchester City play on Sunday.

The main talking point prior to kick-off was the first meeting of Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra since the racism row that resulted in an eight-match ban for the Uruguayan international. Regrettably, Suarez fuelled the acrimony between the teams by refusing to accept Evra’s hand during the customary pre-match handshakes.

Liverpool left back Jose Enrique returned after missing Monday’s draw against Tottenham Hotspur with a stiff back. Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam both started on the bench while United nemesis Dirk Kuyt was given a start. The Dutchman scored the winner at Anfield in the Cup clash and netted a hat-trick when the two sides met in the League last March.

Manchester United defenders Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were both still recovering from injury and long term absentees Anderson and former Kop hero Michael Owen were also still out of contention.

Goalless First Period

The game was only two minutes old when Evra charged towards Suarez, but succeeded only in colliding with Rio Ferdinand who was also attempting to tackle the Liverpool striker. The United No. 5 landed awkwardly, jarring his neck, and was obliged to temporarily leave the field for treatment.

Liverpool appeared very lackluster and with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Michael Carrick bossing the midfield, the visitors’ most dangerous player was probably Glen Johnson. Indeed, it was the England right-back who had the best sight of goal for Liverpool in the early part of the match, but fired his shot wide.

That turned out to be Liverpool’s only significant chance in a half that United dominated. Antonio Valencia and Rafael combined well down the right hand side and gave Enrique a torrid time on his return to the starting line-up.

However, the home side’s best chance of the half came on 31 minutes when Scholes played the ball out to Giggs on the left, then continued his run into the six-yard box to be in the perfect position to receive the Welshman’s pinpoint cross. The veteran made good contact on his header, but it was virtually straight at Pepe Reina who made a reaction save. A yard either side, and the keeper would have stood no chance.

Having dominated most of the first 45 minutes United should have had something to show for their efforts on the scoreboard, but they had lacked the killer punch in front of goal and so it was still all square at the break.

Fracas in the Tunnel

As the players left the field, the simmering bitterness erupted and it was reported that scuffles ensued which required the intervention of stewards and police. It was a full five minutes before the two teams made it to their respective dressing rooms.

When the players returned to the field and battle recommenced it was United that had the passion and desire to break the deadlock. On 47 minutes, the Liverpool defense failed to deal with a Giggs corner, which found Rooney in space at the far end of the six-yard box. United’s main man lashed the ball home for his 20th goal of the season in his 350th appearance for the club.

Barely three minutes later, Jay Spearing gave up the ball when pressed by a determined Valencia. The Ecuador international, who has been a revelation in recent weeks, slid the ball to that man Rooney who drilled it between the hapless Reina’s legs for United’s second.

On the hour, Kenny Dalglish brought on Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy for Spearing and Stuart Downing. Then Kuyt was withdrawn in favor of Charlie Adam in an effort to improve supply to Liverpool’s front men.

The visitors had really created very little all afternoon, and a set piece was always likely to be their best chance of pulling a goal back , particularly with Carroll now available to try and unsettle David De Gea at close quarters as he had successfully done two weeks earlier.

Ten minutes from time the opportunity arose with a free kick awarded to Liverpool around 30 yards out. Adam pumped the ball into the box where it bounced off Rio Ferdinand’s thigh into the path of Suarez who gratefully gobbled up the scraps.

In fact they could have grabbed an unlikely, and frankly, undeserved equalizer in the final minute of normal time but De Gea earned his money for the second week in a row when he athletically tipped a Glen Johnson pile-driver over the bar to ensure that United held on to all three points and moved into top spot.

For Liverpool, it was another setback in their fight for that tightly contested fourth Champions League qualification place.

Wayne Rooney of Manchester United against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on February 5, 2012 in London, England. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Red Devils out for Revenge

Old Trafford is the venue for this Saturday’s early kickoff as we prepare for the third showdown of the season between English football’s two biggest clubs. Following Liverpool’s last-gasp 2 -- 1 FA Cup victory over the Red Devils just two weeks ago, Sir Alex Ferguson’s title chasing Man United will be going all out for revenge against their arch rivals as they look to build on last Monday’s sensational come back against Chelsea and keep pace with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League. Even so, they cannot expect an easy ride against Liverpool, despite only losing once in their last seven home matches against the Anfield club. Liverpool’s own title aspirations may have already been extinguished, but the Reds remain firmly in the race for the Champions League positions and will be desperate not to slip up.

Both sides come into Saturday’s match on the back of draws against tough opposition, achieved in totally contrasting fashion. While United stunned everyone by coming back from 3 – 0 down to snatch a dramatic 3 – 3 draw away to Chelsea, Liverpool put in a far more subdued performance as they were held to a scoreless draw at home to Tottenham Hostpur. With both teams seeing the draws as missed opportunities in their respective missions, there will be everything to play for this Saturday.

Saturday’s encounter will also be notable for the Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra sideshow. Liverpool’s Uruguayan attacker was controversially found guilty of racially abusing Frenchman Evra in that match and forced to serve an eight-match ban, and Saturday will be the first time the two face each other on the same pitch since last October’s notorious incident.

Manchester United

Monday night’s sensational come back epitomizes the never-say-die spirit of Man United under Sir Alex Ferguson, and sends out a stark warning to league leaders Manchester City that they will have to fight all the way to the finish line if they want to claim this season’s EPL title. The instant Wayne Rooney coolly slotted home his penalty kick to make the score 3 – 1, United fans could sense what would happen next. While the draw leaves United two points off the pace, the manner in which it was gained will surely bolster the Red Devil’s confidence that they can claim back pole position in the coming weeks.

United’s attacking threat was all too evident on Monday night, yet the match once again highlighted their defensive frailties this season. Evra was clearly at fault for the first goal, while veteran defender Rio Ferdinand’s loss of sharpness was yet again exposed for the third. The way in which Ferguson’s men allowed Chelsea to grab two goals within the space of five minutes after halftime was the antithesis to United teams of recent years. For a team with title-chasing aspirations, the constant chopping and changing of the back four is quite unbecoming—a defect that has been highlighted time and again in United’s big games this season.

Undoubtedly, Wayne Rooney’s return to action was a massive boost for United, with the striker’s presence clearly being the decisive factor in Monday’s draw. The team’s lack of cutting edge was clearly evidenced in his absence during the defeat at Liverpool two weeks ago, a game which United dominated for long periods but were unable kill off.
Liverpool

Today’s match is arguably even more important for Liverpool’s season than it is Man United’s, as the Anfield club remain four points off of the top four and that all-important Champions League qualifying place, a competition which today’s rivals are sure to be in next season. Even so, it might just be that Dirk Kuyt’s dramatic late winner in the FA Cup tie two weeks ago will prove to be the catalyst for Kenny Dalglish’s men to finally kick start their stuttering campaign. Currently lying seventh in the table, Liverpool have now gone four games unbeaten and will be quietly confident of getting something from Saturday’s match, spurred on by the knowledge that defeat could leave them with a mountain to climb.

Just as Wayne Rooney’s return was a huge boon for Man United, the return of striker Luis Suarez will do much to bolster Liverpool. The gifted but controversial Uruguayan seems to be the only player in Liverpool’s squad capable of sparking their attack into life, thanks chiefly to his lightning-quick speed and his ability to snatch something out of nothing. Liverpool’s forward line has struggled desperately without Suarez’s pace over the last month, with the pedestrian Kuyt and Andy Carroll clearly lacking the creative spark that is so important against EPL defenses. Carroll’s big problem is that Kenny Dalglish simply doesn’t have any idea how to use the big target man, as the Anfield club seems incapable of delivering the kind of deep crosses into the box which he thrived on while at Newcastle. Big-money-signing Stewart Downing has been a big disappointment this year, while Liverpool’s full backs seem to have a preference from putting in low crosses.

Liverpool’s fate will largely depend on how well skipper Steven Gerrard and Suarez can link up. With Gerrard missing out on the first half of the season due to injury, followed by Suarez’s enforced absence, the pair have not yet had the playing time to gel together, yet it seems that this partnership offers the best hope Dalglish has for rectifying Liverpool’s attacking flaws.

Verdict

While Liverpool will be spurred on by the return of Suarez and the knowledge that defeat could be disastrous for their lingering Champions League hopes, it’s difficult to see how they can score goals in what is always a tight affair. Man United for their part look to be moving into gear for their traditional end-of-season title charge, and with home advantage on Saturday it’s hard to see any other outcome than a win for the Old Trafford club.

Prediction: Manchester United 2, Liverpool 0

Mike Wheatley is an experienced freelance blogger and copywriter from the UK. His life is one never-ending adventure, living it up while funding his hectic lifestyle through his work as an author and heading up Content Solutions Online.

Arsenal’s former captain Thierry Henry and current captain Robin Van Persie celebrate a job well done against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

Arsenal finally gave their disgruntled supporters something to cheer about with a 7–1 demolition of Blackburn Rovers in Saturday’s early kickoff at the Emirates. It was the Gunners’ first league win of 2012 and a timely confidence boost ahead of the Champions League knockout phase.

Marksman par excellence, Robin Van Persie, scored a hat-trick, his second of the campaign, while teenage starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain added two of his own.

Blackburn had twice come from behind to defeat Arsenal 4–3 at Ewood Park back in September, so Gunners boss Arsene Wenger took nothing for granted in this return fixture. Aaron Ramsey, who had appeared sluggish in the 0–0 draw at Bolton in midweek, made way for Tomas Rosicky, and Francis Coquelin came in for Bacary Sagna. A surprising move this, since the defensive midfielder was asked to play out of position at right full back.

Blackburn’s defensive line-up looked vulnerable without the commanding presence of Christopher Samba. Manager Steve Kean stated that Samba was fit to play but there was a question mark over his mental attitude following his unsuccessful transfer request. Thus, goalkeeper Paul Robinson continued to wear the captain’s armband. Top striker Yakubu was still serving a suspension, which provided another opportunity for Anthony Modeste who is on loan from Bordeaux.

Gunners on Fire

The game was just 80 seconds old when Coquelin sent Theo Walcott down the right flank to the byline. The England winger cut the ball back to Van Persie who had a simple tap in for his first of the afternoon. The home side proceeded to dominate play for half an hour with Blackburn barely able to break out of their own half.

However, when they did manage a rare foray into Arsenal territory, Modeste won a free kick in a prime central position just outside the penalty area. Dead ball specialist Morten Gamst Pederson made no mistake with his lethal left foot, curling the ball over the wall and into the top right hand corner of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal. The Polish keeper got a hand to the ball but couldn’t keep it out.

That was as good as it was going to get for Rovers and normal service quickly resumed. On 38 minutes an incisive pass from Alex Song again found Walcott in space and the winger’s pull-back resulted in another tap in for Van Persie.

Then just two minutes later Oxlade-Chamberlain was played in via the silky skills of Van Persie. A sure first touch from the 18 year-old brought the ball under control, the second took him round the keeper, and the third deposited the ball into the back of the net. This is a player with a very bright future ahead of him.

Blackburn already looked dead and buried, but any chance of a miraculous recovery disappeared completely with the dismissal of Gael Givet for a two-footed lunge at Van Persie shortly before half time. Blackburn was having enough trouble defending with 11 players and now they would have to make do with 10.

More of the Same

Arsenal started the second period a bit casually, but it was not long before they slipped smoothly into gear. On 51 minutes, a weak headed clearance from a Van Persie corner fell invitingly into the path of Mikel Arteta on the edge of the box. The former Everton man had enough time and space to pick his spot and duly rifled the ball home.

Only three minutes later the visitors were in strife yet again as Walcott ran them ragged before slipping the ball to fellow winger Oxlade-Chamberlain who made no mistake.

Arsenal’s latest youth prodigy Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored two goals at home to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. (Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

There are already cries from around the country for Oxlade-Chamberlain to be picked for England, and on the hour he showed us exactly why, leaving two Blackburn defenders for dead in a glorious run that, while not leading to another goal, was itself worth the price of admission.

Wenger spoke about Arsenal’s newly found spark plug, as reportedon ESPN Soccernet.com, “Chamberlain has made a big step in the last months. He produces team play, he is not only going forwards, he is contributing to the defending and has improved very quickly.”

The young man was surprisingly deprived of the chance of completing his hat-trick when Wenger substituted him for the second week in succession with 22 minutes still to play. But on came the legendary Thierry Henry instead of Andrei Arshavin.

However, more goals did come for Arsenal. The skipper completed his hat-trick with another one laid on a plate for him, this time by Coquelin. Van Persie has scored more goals against Blackburn in all competitions than against any other team having netted 13 times in 13 games—certainly not lucky for Rovers.

The icing on the cake for the home fans came in the final minute of stoppage time when Van Persie unselfishly set up on-loan substitute, and perennial crowd favorite, Henry for the former captain’s first Premier League goal in five years.

The win took Arsenal to within two points of Chelsea in fourth place, and of course did wonders for their goal difference, something that could prove crucial in the battle for that final Champions League qualifying spot come the end of the season.

“I felt that recently we had quite good performances but did not get the results. Today we got the performance and the result, which is ideally what you want,” Wenger said.

Blackburn remains deep in trouble with that heroic win at Old Trafford becoming a fading memory. Kean said after the game, “This was the first time we really got turned over, so we will have to analyze it and respond. I could shout at the players in the dressing room, throw tea-cups at them, but the hard work starts again preparing for the next game.”

Canadian soccer superstar Christine Sinclair (L) led her nation to qualifying for the London Olympics this summer. She led the CONCACAF qualifying tournament with nine goals. Canada finished with a silver medal last Sunday after losing to the United States. (Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Liverpool’s Daniel Agger celebrates his team’s first goal in fourth round FA Cup action against Manchester United. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Liverpool dumped Manchester United out of the FA Cup with a 2–1 win at Anfield on Saturday, thanks to a late goal from substitute Dirk Kuyt. The visitors controlled the game for long periods, but as Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard told Setanta Sports after the game, “It’s the result that counts.”

The victory crowned a marvelous week for the Merseyside club, as they reached the final of the Carling Cup last Wednesday night with a 3–2 aggregate triumph over Manchester City.

Kenny Dalglish’s team selection raised a few eyebrows prior to the match with Charlie Adam, Dirk Kuyt, and Craig Bellamy all starting on the bench, while veteran Jamie Carragher was drafted in to strengthen the center of the defense and curb the threat of United’s Danny Welbeck.

Manchester United’s injury problems aren’t getting any better as the weeks go by with Wayne Rooney, Nani, and Phil Jones all carrying knocks from the clash with Arsenal and being unavailable for this one.

David De Gea was preferred to Anders Lindegaard in goal and made his first start since the ignominious home defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers.

The management of both clubs appealed to their respective supporters for calm and common sense with regard to the eight-match ban handed down to Luis Suarez following the complaint of racial abuse lodged by Patrice Evra.

Nonetheless, it came as no surprise that a chorus of jeers echoed around Anfield every time Evra touched the ball, but happily there were no serious incidents.

End-to-End Stuff

This was an open game played at a high tempo from the start, with both goalkeepers called on to make early saves. Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, and Ryan Giggs took control of the midfield and the impressive Antonio Valencia was unlucky not to put United ahead on 17 minutes following a strong run into the Liverpool area.

The Ecuador international could only watch as his shot from the right side of the box beat Pepe Reina but agonizingly rebounded to safety off the far post.

Four minutes later at the opposite end of the field Liverpool was awarded a corner. De Gea was clearly fazed by the physical presence of Andy Carroll who lured the young Spanish keeper into no man’s land allowing Daniel Agger to head Liverpool into the lead.

Despite going behind, United dominated play with Scholes’s distribution looking almost back to his old standard, and it appeared only a matter of time before a decent chance would be created.

That opportunity arrived when the lively Rafael Da Silva scampered down the right flank to the byline and cut back a diagonal cross into the path of Ji-Sung Park. The South Korean duly planted a crisp first-time shot into the bottom left hand corner of Reina’s goal. On the balance of play it was no more than the visitors deserved.

Second Half Goes Wrong for United

United continued to dictate play in the second half, but without creating a great deal in the final third. Perhaps the best chance came on 58 minutes when Welbeck caught Reina way out on the edge of the area and flicked the ball around the Liverpool keeper towards goal. Unfortunately for the young striker there wasn’t enough pace on the ball to reach the net and Martin Skrtel was able to clear.

With time ebbing away, Dalglish turned to his bench and sent on Adam and Kuyt for Maxi Rodriguez and Carragher. Not long afterwards, with 18 minutes left on the clock, a tiring Gerrard made way for Bellamy.

For his part, Sir Alex Ferguson made a bid for the win by sending on Javier Hernandez for Scholes. While the Liverpool newcomers injected new life into their side’s campaign, United suddenly started to look disjointed in the absence of Scholes and rather lost control of proceedings.

But Liverpool’s winner did not come from a well-orchestrated move, but rather a hopeful boot down the middle from Reina. Carroll got his head to it and flicked on into the path of Kuyt who had managed to get goalside of Evra. With only the nervous De Gea to beat Kuyt made no mistake.

Delighted Liverpool boss Daglish told Setanta Sports, “It’s been a fantastic week for the players,” and lavished praise on their “effort and commitment.”

Meanwhile, Ferguson will be having nightmares about United’s goalkeeping problem.

Manchester United’s Antonio Valencia powers a header into the Arsenal goal to give his team a lead at the end of the first half. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)

Arsenal lost their third straight Premier League match on Sunday as Manchester United completed the double over them with a 2–1 win at the Emirates. Danny Welbeck smashed in the winner in the 81st minute, but Antonio Valencia was the hero for United with a goal and an assist.

With the win, United kept pace with local rivals Manchester City who had edged Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 earlier in the day. And for the second time this season, Manchester did the double over North London (Aug. 28).

Arsenal continues to languish in fifth place, five points back of fourth place Chelsea in the battle for a Champions League spot. Fortunately for the Gunners, both Liverpool and Newcastle lost on Saturday.

Red Devils Start Well

With shaky confidence comes tentative play, and Arsenal, despite being the hosts with a 7–2–1 (win, draw, loss) record at home, saw the visitors take control of the match in the first half.

The ageless Ryan Giggs was in fine form, running at the Arsenal defenders and settling his side down with his experience.

United defender Phil Jones seemed to roll his ankle as Walcott ran at him down the left flank. The former Blackburn Rovers product had to be stretchered off shortly after the quarter-hour mark.

Walcott continued to struggle for Arsenal, misplaying passes and not showing much composure with the ball. On the bright side for the Gunners, teenager Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looked very threatening down the right flank.

In first half injury time, Giggs was given enough time and space to feed a perfect cross from the left and Valencia powered the header home to the bottom corner. Valencia is not known for his aerial abilities, but he fought off Thomas Vermaelen to give United a deserved lead.

United was showing greater conviction and self-belief whereas Arsenal’s attacks would fizzle out near goal.

Gunners Respond

Arsenal started the second half brightly and created at least two chances that should’ve been converted before United got their wits about them.

Thomas Rosicky weaved his way into the box but instead of shooting passed to Robin Van Persie with United’s defenders and keeper Anders Lindegaard scrambling. Van Persie got the ball on his trustworthy left foot but blew his shot high and wide.

Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie reacts in frustration after firing high and wide early in the second half. (Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images)

Shortly thereafter, Rosicky had time to settle and tee up a shot from well inside the 18-yard box. His hard shot was blocked by a United defender, partially with his arm.

Arsenal was doing everything they could to get back in the game but United had the counterattack working well and Welbeck nearly put his team ahead, but his slow roller was cleared off the line brilliantly by Per Mertesacker.

Arsenal got the equalizer in the 71st minute when Oxlade-Chamberlain threaded a pass to Van Persie. The Dutchman’s left-footer found the far side of the net past Lindegaard. The play was started by some find defending from Laurent Koscielny.

But shortly thereafter, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made a dubious substitution, which Van Persie was clearly unhappy about. Wenger replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain with the struggling little Russian Andrei Arshavin. The move would come back to haunt the Gunners.

In his post-match press conference relayed on Arsenal’s Twitter feed, Wenger spoke about the questionable substitution: “I can understand the fans were upset about the substitution, especially when it doesn’t work. He [Oxlade-Chamberlain] had started to fatigue.”

Less than 10 minutes after the substitution, Valencia cleverly wove into the Arsenal box, played a give-and-go with Park Ji-Sung, and then found Welbeck with a short pass. Welbeck fired home the winner. Arshavin looked very poor defending Valencia on the play, but Arsenal also didn’t have any natural fullbacks in their squad.

“We should have rammed home our advantage in the first half, and in the first 15 minutes of the second half they had three great chances and missed them all, so we rode our luck,” Sir Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports 1.

“Winning after City had won was the important thing but we’ve done it in the right way. We were really adventurous, positive, and had a great belief in ourselves.”

Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli scores an injury-time penalty past American goalkeeper Brad Friedel to sink Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

City seemed to have the three points in the bag when they went two up as Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott netted in quick succession shortly after the break; but Spurs hit back almost immediately with goals from Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale.

The Londoners can consider themselves unfortunate since they certainly had the better of the second half once they had drawn level at the 65-minute mark. Moreover, Balotelli arguably should not even have been on the pitch to win and score the penalty, as television replays showed he had earlier caught the head of a prostrate Scott Parker with a deliberate stamp that was missed by referee Howard Webb.

Roberto Mancini made one change to the side that won at Wigan last Monday, restoring the fit again Micah Richards to the right back position. In the absence of Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure, Richards also took the captain’s armband. Mario Balotelli’s ankle problem has cleared up but the Italian striker had to be content with a place on the bench.

Being on loan from City, Emmanuel Adebayor was unable to play for Spurs, so Defoe made only his eighth Premier League start of the season. The Tottenham injury list included Tom Huddlestone and William Gallas, but veteran defender Ledley King was available and replaced Michael Dawson.

Disappointing First 45

Neither side was giving anything away early and for a quarter of an hour most of the play was in the middle third of the field. The first chance of the game fell to City, but Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko rather got in each other’s way and the opportunity went begging.

On the half hour Micah Richards won the ball on the right flank and played in Aguero. But American goalkeeper Brad Friedel saved well to deny the Argentinian. The 40 year-old veteran keeper has proved to be an invaluable last line of defense for Tottenham throughout this campaign.

There were plenty of pretty patterns woven by both sets of players during the first half but very little to excite the spectators. Considering the amount of talent on display it was a hugely disappointing first 45 minutes.

Match Comes to Life

The match suddenly burst into life nine minutes into the second half. City had started brightly and David Silva worked a little magic to make space for himself, wrong foot the Spurs back line, and deliver a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Samir Nasri who gleefully hammered the ball past a helpless Friedel.

Before Harry Redknapp’s team had time to even draw breath, they had fallen even further behind. In contrast to the first goal, there was very little artistry involved in the second.

Central defender Lescott powered into the six-yard box for a corner and comically trod on the ball before scrambling it over the line. However, “they all count” as the saying goes.

Yet Spurs were given a lifeline only a minute later when Stefan Savic misjudged a long ball through the middle and Defoe was in. The England striker still had to round Joe Hart and find the net from a 45-degree angle, but that proved to be no problem.

Tottenham’s Gareth Bale celebrates his equalizing goal against Manchester City on Sunday. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

Then on 65 minutes came the goal of the game. The lively Aaron Lennon crossed along the ground from the left wing directly into the path of Gareth Bale who was lurking on the edge of the box.

The Welshman hit it with his favored left foot and Hart was left grasping at thin air as the ball curved away from him into the top corner. It was an absolutely glorious strike from Bale who had been fairly quiet by his standards.

The crowd had been treated to four goals in the space of nine minutes but neither side was able to break the deadlock for the remainder of regulation time.

A minute into injury time Defoe was within inches of scoring from close range, but just failed to direct Bale’s slightly over-hit cross into the City net. Then came the heartbreaking end to the afternoon’s proceedings for the visitors.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Balotelli, who had come on as a substitute for Dzeko, was brought down in the area by Ledley King. It was a clear penalty, which Balotelli took himself and calmly slotted home.

“I was calm, like every time I take a penalty,” Balotelli was quoted as saying to Sky Sports 1.

The home fans were as ecstatic and the visiting fans were despondent, but the City smiles may be wiped away after the league’s adjudicators have examined video evidence of both the aforementioned Balotelli stamping incident, as well as a forearm smash delivered by Lescott to the face of Younes Kaboul that left the Spurs defender in a heap on the turf.

City could easily have been hanging on at the end with only nine men, but it was their day and they have the three points. Manchester City extended their lead to six points over Manchester United, who face Arsenal later in the day.

David Beckham is signed on for another two years with the Galaxy. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Midfielder David Beckham has re-signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy, according to a report on the club’s website.

Beckham, 36, is coming off perhaps his best season in a Galaxy uniform, leading the team to their first MLS Cup Championship since 2005.

In Beckham’s five seasons with Los Angeles, the Galaxy have reached the MLS Cup twice while Beckham himself was named to the MLS All-Star Team twice. In 2011, Beckham recorded a career-best 15 assists as the Galaxy finished the season with a 19–5–10 record.

“This was an important decision for me,” Galaxy midfielder David Beckham said, according to a release on the team’s website. “I had many offers from clubs from around the world; however, I’m still passionate about playing in America and winning trophies with the Galaxy.”

Newcastle's Leon Best gets past QPR's Luke Young on the way to the game's only goal on Sunday. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Newcastle United leapfrogged Liverpool to claim sixth place in the Barclays English Premier League with a hard fought 1–0 home win on Sunday over Queens Park Rangers, who remain in the bottom three.

This was a fascinating encounter, with Mark Hughes having just replaced the sacked Neil Warnock at Loftus Road. However, the eagerly awaited return of “bad boy” Joey Barton to the Sports Direct Arena (St James’ Park for the purists) was put on hold as the feisty Rangers skipper was suspended.

Newcastle was also missing key players with in-form striker Demba Ba and midfield dynamo Cheik Tiote representing Senegal and Ivory Coast respectively at the African Cup of Nations. That meant a start for Leon Best up front, while Danny Guthrie was given an opportunity to show what he can do in the middle of the park.

Keen to give their new boss a winning start, Rangers started brightly with Newcastle’s Tim Krul the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first quarter of an hour. In fact Krul was fortunate that a couple of uncharacteristic rebounds fell kindly for his defenders rather than to the feet of opposing forwards.

Then on 16 minutes, the lively Shaun Wright-Phillips let fly from the left hand corner of the penalty area only to see his fierce drive just clip the top of the crossbar and sail into the stands.

In fact the visitors more than held their own for the first half hour as Newcastle could not quite seem to get into gear. Jay Bothroyd was unlucky when his shot grazed Krul’s left-hand upright in the 32nd minute and at this juncture Rangers were certainly not looking like a side in the bottom three.

However, the introduction of Hatem Ben Arfa for the injured Yohan Cabaye turned out to be the injection of creativity the Magpies needed. Full of confidence following his last gasp wonder goal to defeat Blackburn in the FA Cup last week, Ben Arfa’s ability to find the incisive pass began to cause Rangers problems.

On 37 minutes, Best received the ball just inside the Rangers area. Showing the crowd some of the clever footwork of which he is capable on a good day, the striker stepped blithely inside Luke Young and slotted the ball home. Rangers could consider themselves unlucky to be going into the break a goal down, as they had really been the better side for much of the half.

Newcastle carried on in the second half as they ended the first, and for the most part put in a much more solid performance for manager Alan Pardew. Rangers’ chance to take something from the match came when Bothroyd squandered a couple of decent opportunities in quick succession.

New QPR boss Mark Hughes didn't get the result he was looking for against Newcastle on Sunday. (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

As it was, there would be no winning start for Hughes who is going to have to quickly find a way to put some points on the board if he is to keep QPR in the top flight.

What Future for Rangers?

The long suffering QPR fans are desperately hoping that Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes will provide the injection of cash and vision to make the Super Hoops a competitive Premier League side and bring back the nearest thing they ever had to “glory days” in the mid to late ‘70s.

Back then, Dave Sexton assembled a magnificent side that was pipped for the championship by just a single point on the last day of 1975–76 season.

Yours truly was resident in London during the 1976–77 season along with a few friends who were also interlopers to the capital with no local loyalties. You might reasonably have expected us to go and watch Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea, or West Ham, yet our first choice destination was always Loftus Road.

There we could admire Rangers’ seven internationals, including the likes of Dave Clement, Ian Gillard, Don Givens, Dave Thomas, Phil Parkes, England captain Gerry Francis, and the mercurial Stan Bowles.

Stan was one of those wonderfully gifted players who was somehow never given a decent run in the England side when he was clearly the outstanding talent in the country. Any other country would have built their national team around the guy instead of complaining that he “didn’t tackle back enough” and refusing to pick him unless absolutely desperate.

Stan’s off-field exploits almost rivaled those of George Best, or Joey Barton to give a contemporary example—which admittedly did not help his cause—but his football skills were sublime and a joy to behold. Mark Hughes does not yet have that sort of quality to work with, but it is certainly going to be interesting to see how the club develops in the months to come.

Oakland’s Hue Jackson is out as head coach after one season. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Oakland Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie, hired Jan. 6 to assume many of the duties of former owner Al Davis, fired head coach Hue Jackson Tuesday, according to a report on the NFL’s website.

Jackson had been the coach for just one season, going 8–8, after previously serving as the team’s offensive coordinator.

The Raiders started strong with a 7–4 record but faltered down the stretch and failed to make the playoffs for the ninth straight season. The season was punctuated by the trade for veteran quarterback Carson Palmer after starter Jason Campbell was lost for the season with an injury.

Oakland, as decided by Hue Jackson, gave up both a first- and second-round pick for the now 32-year-old signal caller—probably too much given the new cap on rookie contracts.

Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck volleys home his team’s second goal against Manchester City in Sunday’s FA Cup derby. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Manchester United has gained some measure of revenge on neighbors Manchester City for the 6–1 defeat in October by knocking the defending champions out of the FA Cup at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Two goals from Wayne Rooney and one from Danny Welbeck saw the team in red three goals to the good at half time, thanks primarily to City captain and defensive lynchpin Vincent Kompany receiving a controversial red card with the game only 12 minutes old. But City reorganized their 10 men and pulled two goals back in the second half as United took their collective feet off the gas.

The main talking point prior to kick-off was the news that Paul Scholes had been coaxed out of retirement to try and add some much needed steel to the United midfield and would start on the bench. Chris Smalling returned to bolster the defense, allowing Antonio Valencia to take up his preferred position on the right flank.

City was without Mario Balotelli who is still troubled by an ankle problem, while Nigel De Jong deputized for the suspended Gareth Barry. The inspirational Yaya Toure, along with his brother Kolo, is on duty for the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations tournament and will be unavailable for a month.

City looked by far the more composed of the two sides in the first 10 minutes, yet it was the visitors who went ahead literally the first time they ventured into the City half.

Wayne Rooney was on the ball, played it out to Valencia on the right and continued his run to be in the perfect position to receive a typical quality cross from the Ecuador international. Rooney still had plenty to do, but managed to direct his header wide of City reserve keeper Costel Pontilimon and into the net.

Game Changer

Two minutes later came the defining incident of the afternoon, which essentially determined the final result. Kompany elected to contest a 50/50 ball with Nani by sliding in with both feet raised off the ground and two sets of studs showing. Nani fortunately saw him coming and jumped clear allowing Kompany to win the ball with no actual physical contact being made.

Nonetheless, the letter of the law dictates that feet raised off the ground with studs showing merits a red card and so the incident was interpreted by referee Chris Foy.

All but the most diehard United supporters felt the decision was harsh, particularly since no actual contact was made with Nani—let alone any injury—and a caution might have been more appropriate. But the referee had made his decision.

Despite this setback, the next chance of the game was carved out by City and a stinging drive from Kun Aguero brought the very best out of Anders Lindegaard in the United goal.

City’s 10 men held out until just past the half hour mark. Nani drifted infield before playing the ball out onto the left flank into the path of the overlapping Patrice Evra. The cross came in and the City defenders failed to clear their lines.

The ball fell slightly behind Danny Welbeck who managed to spin around and hook a very well executed volley onto the target and out of the keeper’s reach.

Seven minutes later, the United striker was in the thick of it again and clearly was brought down in the box by Aleksandar Kolarov. A weak Rooney penalty was blocked by Pontilimon, but the rebound came right back into the penalty taker’s path and the England striker gratefully headed the ball home.

City Fights Back

If the majority of spectators thought the game was already over and that United might truly avenge that 6–1 league defeat by scoring a hatful, they could not have been more wrong.

City manager Roberto Mancini sacrificed Adam Johnson and David Silva for the defensive skills of Stefan Savic and Pablo Zabaleta in the interests of damage control. But with United seemingly rather too complacent as the second half got underway, City was suddenly back in contention.

Evra committed an infringement a few yards outside the box in a perfect position for Kolarov to let fly with that lethal left foot. He beat Lindegaard to his left just three minutes after the restart.

Manchester United welcomed back Paul Scholes for a thrilling FA Cup derby against Manchester City on Sunday. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

On 59 minutes came the moment that all the United fans had been waiting for—the appearance of Paul Scholes. Great player he may have been, but it has to be said that he did look a trifle rusty and duly gave the ball away to, of all people, Aguero.

The Argentine cut inside and fired a shot that Lindegaard was unable to hold or parry to safety. Aguero collected the loose ball and made no mistake. City had kept their shape and been patient and now were in with a real chance to achieve what had seemed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams at half-time.

The home side was denied a chance to draw level when an appeal for handball against Phil Jones was turned down. But in fairness, Valencia had earlier been brought down by Kolarov just inside the City box. This would surely have been given as a foul anywhere else on the pitch, but it seemed the referee was reluctant to penalize City any further after Kompany’s red card and United’s first half penalty.

By stoppage time, United were hanging on for dear life against City’s 10 men. Rio Ferdinand, who looks a shadow of the player he was three or four years ago, gave away a free kick in almost the same position as the one from which Kolarov had scored.

This time the Serb shot straight at Lindegaard, but the Dane failed to hold it and for an instant the hearts of all United followers missed a beat. However, the bounce was kind to the defenders, who somehow contrived to scramble the ball to safety.

United Unconvincing

Notwithstanding the victory, Sir Alex Ferguson’s team was less than convincing. They desperately need a midfield enforcer in the mould of Roy Keane, while both Ferdinand and Jones again made far too many mistakes.

Lindegaard appeared to be increasingly nervous and error prone as the game neared its conclusion, and one wonders if Ferguson’s next phone call will be to try and persuade Edwin van der Sar out of retirement.

”We got careless and made City better than they were. They went defensive in the second half and waited for us to make mistakes—and we made them,” Ferguson was reported as saying on ESPN Soccernet.com.

City certainly looked the goods before the controversial sending off, but we will never know what might have been had they completed the game with a full complement of players. One thing is that they are going to miss Yaya Toure greatly. He has been ever present this season and very much the foundation stone of Mancini’s team.

At least now they have been eliminated from the FA Cup and Champions League, City can concentrate on winning that league title that has eluded them for all of 44 years.

“Now I think we can win the league because of the character we showed. United is a top squad in England. At Old Trafford, with 10 men for 40 minutes, they lost 6–1,” said Mancini. “Today we played for 80 minutes with 10 players, scored two goals and didn’t concede any chances.”

Newcastle’s French midfielder Yohan Cabaye scores his team’s second goal against Manchester United on Wednesday. (Graham Stuart/AFP/Getty Images)

The defending Premier League champions Manchester United went down 3–0 away to Newcastle United on Wednesday thanks to goals from Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, and a freak own goal from Phil Jones.

The win was Newcastle’s first Premier League victory over United since September 2001. Another miserable outing for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men followed on last Saturday’s 3–2 home loss to Blackburn Rovers.

Those fans who traveled up to Tyneside from Manchester would have initially felt confident that their side would put the shock home defeat to Blackburn behind them with the return of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, and Rio Ferdinand to the starting line-up.

For the home team in the black and white stripes, Ba was no doubt keen to give the Toon Army something to remember before leaving to represent Senegal in the African Nations Cup later this month. However, he completely missed an inviting cross and so uncharacteristically squandered Newcastle’s first chance after only five minutes.

A minute later Cabaye gave United keeper Anders Lindegaard his first test. Newcastle had started proceedings at a frenetic pace and with intent.

The visitors weathered the initial storm and created their first chance after a quarter of an hour when Dimitar Berbatov’s glancing header was deflected past the outstretched fingers of Tim Krul onto the post.

On 25 minutes, Newcastle had a decent appeal for a penalty turned down by referee Howard Webb, but they did take the lead eight minutes later.

A long punt up field from Krul was flicked on by the head of Shola Ameobi; the ball bounced kindly for Ba who volleyed into Lindegaard’s net, banishing all memories of his earlier glaring miss. It was the first Premier League goal the 27-year-old Dane had conceded.

Newcastle Consolidate

Manchester came out for the second half looking determined to turn things around, but it was the home side that struck again. Only two minutes after the restart, Jones took Ba out of the play and received the first yellow card of the game for his trouble.

The free kick was in a fairly central position though more than 25 yards out. Cabaye kept his shoulder over the ball and hit it sweet as you like with power and dip towards the top corner. Lindegaard, at full stretch, got his fingertips to it, but could only tip the ball onto the underside of the bar from where it bounced down well over the goal line.

It goes without saying that Manchester United came back strongly to try and make good the deficit, but the Magpies’ work rate was outstanding as they continued to close down the United attack.

Perhaps the crucial moment of the match happened when Newcastle defender Danny Simpson cleared Rooney’s close range effort off the line.

Newcastle United’s Demba Ba takes on Manchester United’s Phil Jones in Wednesday’s English Premier League action. (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The return of Fabricio Coloccini has seen stability return to the Newcastle defense and it has to be said that the skipper never put a foot wrong all night.

The icing on Newcastle’s cake came in the 90th minute when Jones misjudged the bounce of another long clearance, and the ball deflected off his midriff into the net with Lindegaard stranded on the opposite side of the goal area.

The lesson to be learnt for all young defenders on this night was that it is better to get under those long balls and head them away before they bounce. Let them bounce at your peril—especially on a damp pitch.

With first choice central defender Nemanja Vidic out for the season, someone else is going to have to take the initiative in those circumstances or the chance that Old Trafford sees more silverware in 2012 will be greatly diminished.

Crowded Holiday Schedule

There is no doubt that the crowded schedule over Christmas and New Year’s makes for a great deal of entertainment for the millions of fans who avidly follow the Premier League.

Having fixtures every couple of days is a great equalizer and certainly benefits the less fancied teams. All of the big clubs have suffered setbacks against sides that, on paper, should be inferior, but the bottom line is that it does make things more interesting for the spectators.

So at the end of all this frenetic activity it’s more or less as you were, with Manchester City three points clear at the top with a goal difference 11 better than their local rivals United.

City bounced back from their setback at Sunderland with a comfortable 3–0 win against Liverpool on Tuesday evening and are now the side with the momentum going into the eagerly awaited third round FA Cup clash with United on Sunday.

And let’s not forget Tottenham Hotspur. The north London club is only three points behind United with a game in hand. There’s plenty to look forward to in the second half of this Premier League season—it’s no longer a two-horse race for the title.

David Beckham of the Galaxy at the friendly match between the Melbourne Victory and LA Galaxy at Etihad Stadium on December 6, 2011 in Melbourne, Australia (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Despite rampant rumors—and a personal plea from the team owner—of a move to Paris St. Germain, soccer star David Beckham will probably renew his contract with MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy, according to Mirrorfootball.co.uk.

The 36-year-old British striker let his Galaxy contract expire, planning a move to France, where the Qatari investors who took over PSG could offer Beckham a huge contract, reportedly €10 million (US$12.95 million) for 18 months.

Originally, new PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti seemed to be leaning toward Brazilian superstar midfielder Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite), but according to Mirrorfootball, the PSG coach later called Beckham in L.A. and personally asked him to sign.

Beckham seems more inclined to remain in L.A., not wanting to move his family for an 18-month contract.

“He is in L.A., he has his family over there,” PSG Director Sportif Leonardo told the L.A. Times. The issue was not money, he said; “It’s always been a question of personal matters.”

Blackburn Rovers defender Grant Hanley heads home the winning goal at Old Trafford on Saturday. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Blackburn Rovers stunned Manchester United with a 3–2 win at Old Trafford in Saturday’s early fixture, thoroughly spoiling Sir Alex Ferguson’s 70th birthday party in the process.

Steve Kean’s basement dwellers clearly had not read the script and amazingly found themselves two goals up six minutes into the second half. Dimitar Berbatov continued his resurgence with a pair of goals to add to the hat-trick he bagged against Wigan, and with half an hour still to play everyone assumed that, having drawn level, the Red Devils would go on to take the three points.

Yet, despite incredible pressure on the visitors, United failed to find a way through the packed Rovers defense, and it was Scottish international Grant Hanley who grabbed the winning goal for the visitors in the 80th minute.

Blackburn would have been encouraged by the fact that both Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs were not even in the squad for this fixture. Former Rovers youngster Phil Jones returned to partner Michael Carrick in a makeshift central defense.

With Rafael Da Silva in the side, it was surprising that Antonio Valencia started at right back, while the former lined up in midfield alongside Ji-Sung Park with Nani on the right flank and Danny Welbeck in unfamiliar territory on the left.

A long injury list and the crowded holiday schedule had produced this unusual United line-up, but the champions still managed to dominate Blackburn in midfield. However, they could not find that final pass to create a clear opening.

After a quarter of an hour United skipper Patrice Evra started on one of his trademark forays down the left flank, but his touch let him down and he was penalized for a foul while trying to regain possession.

The subsequent free kick was taken by Blackburn’s reserve goalkeeper Mark Bunn who simply punted the ball high into the United box in the direction of big central defender Chris Samba. The Blackburn skipper tangled with Dimitar Berbatov and the United striker was adjudged to have pulled Samba down unfairly. Berbatov did have a handful of Samba’s jersey and was guilty of the penalty.

Sir Alex Ferguson has a 70th birthday and New Year's Eve to forget. (Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images)

Sometimes these penalties aren’t given though and even though Yakubu wasn’t complaining, he confidently hammered the ball past David De Gea. This was in fact the first time in the game that Blackburn had managed to get inside United’s 18-yard box. De Gea had barely touched the ball, let alone made a save, until he was obliged to pick it out of the back of the net.

United continued to control the midfield but still could not find a route to goal with Javier Hernandez and Nani reduced to shooting from distance and missing the target.
In fact it was not until the last minute of the first half that Bunn finally had to make a couple of saves, first from Nani and then Hernandez.

Remarkable Second Half

Blackburn managed to preserve their lead until the break, but most of the 75,146 fans inside Old Trafford expected normal service to be resumed in the second half.

They were in for a mighty shock. Only six minutes into the second period, United’s makeshift defense just seemed to switch off and nobody could put in a convincing tackle as that man Yakubu simply powered his way through and beat De Gea rather too easily.

At that point United seemed to wake up to the reality of the situation. Rafael, who had moved to his more customary position of right back, fed Valencia on the wing. The Brazilian continued his run into the Blackburn area, received a return ball from Valencia, and set up Berbatov who made no mistake. It was Manchester United’s 1,500th Premier League goal—the first club to reach that milestone.

With Anderson, back from his injury lay-off and on as a half time substitute for Hernandez, now pulling the strings in midfield, United were looking much more dangerous. Ten minutes later, Valencia again caused havoc down the right flank, cut into the box and laid the ball on a plate for Berbatov to slot home the equalizer.

With almost half an hour still to play the final result looked a foregone conclusion, but the packed Blackburn defense, inspired by the rock that is Christopher Samba, remained firm. With 10 minutes left Rovers had a rare excursion upfield; De Gea came out for a corner, flapped, and missed the ball completely, allowing Grant Hanley to head in the winning goal.

Blackburn off the Bottom

The win takes Blackburn off the bottom of the table for the time being, but more than that, it will be an enormous confidence boost for the players and their beleaguered manager. Perhaps there will be a few less boos and jeers next time Steve Kean takes his place in the dugout at Ewood Park.

United, by contrast, missed the opportunity to go top of the table when even a point would have been enough. Having enjoyed 58 percent possession to Blackburn’s 42 percent, they really should have achieved a result, but without regular central defenders and with a nervous goalkeeper their frailties at the back were all too obvious.

The highly rated young Spaniard De Gea is simply making too many basic errors, and right now Anders Lindegaard is looking like a better long term prospect to succeed Edwin van der Sar.

Abby Wambach was named the top female athlete Tuesday. (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

World Cup soccer star Abby Wambach was voted by the Associated Press as Female Athlete of the Year Tuesday. The annual honor is the first bestowed upon a soccer player since the award’s inception in 1931.

The 31-year-old forward burst onto the national spotlight this summer for the United States team, scoring four goals in leading the women’s team to the finals, where they lost to Japan on penalty kicks.

“We, as a team, did something that no team since Mia Hamm was able to do,” Wambach told the AP, according to a report on the U.S.’s soccer website. “Even the team that won the (Olympic) gold medal in 2008 wasn’t able to inspire and get people excited about women’s soccer. It goes to show you the impact drama can bring.”

Barcelona striker Lionel Messi (R) scores a goal against Santos during the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Yokohama. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)

Barcelona winning the Club World Cup in Japan after defeating Brazil’s Santos not only shows that Barcelona’s soccer team is the best in the world, it also confirmed—as if it were necessary—that Lionel Messi is the world’s leading player.

Before the game, many soccer enthusiasts thought that Neymar, the young Brazilian star, was on a par with Messi and saw the game as a personal duel between the two players. Sunday’s game proved that Neymar, brilliant player as he is, is still far from being on the same footing with the Argentine star. Sad and bewildered after the game, Neymar could only muster, “They gave us a soccer lesson.”

FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (L) dribbles past Santos FC goalkeeper Rafael Cabral (R) to score during the Club World Cup football final match in Yokohama. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)

The Barcelona team played in Yokohama as if it were playing in his own town: the same self-assuredness, the same tranquility, and the same high quality game. And Messi didn’t disappoint. The Japanese fans were as enthusiastic for him as the Spanish ones, and celebrated every move by the talented Argentine.

Barcelona’s playing was like a carefully orchestrated ballet, danced sometimes at dazing speed. And it seemed that Santos, Neymar’s team, was one more spectator, almost paralyzed by the rapid and precise movements of the Barcelona players.

Messi’s first goal—and the first in the game—was a thing of beauty. In the 16th minute, after receiving a clever ball from Xavi, he sent a left-foot shot over Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael Cabral who hardly had time even to see the ball pass him. Xavi was rewarded a few minutes later when, after receiving a pinpoint pass from Dani Alves, Xavi smashed the ball home.

Cesc Fabregas shot home Barcelona’s third on the stroke of halftime. The half ended Barcelona 3–Santos 0. Messi—who was chosen player of the tournament—made it 4–0 eight minutes from time running past Rafael Cabral at lightning speed. “It’s impossible to stop Barcelona,” said Brazilian star Neymar. “They are the best team in the world with fantastic players. But we are the second best team in the world and for us that is a great reward.”

The final 4–0 score did justice to what happened in the field, where a hypnotized Santos was unable to adequately respond to Barcelona’s dizzying game. Last June, Santos had won its third Libertadores Cup after Pele led the team to two titles in 1962 and 1963. Barcelona ends the year having won four important tournaments.

Asked about the secret for his team’s winning streak Messi responded, “The key is in the locker room. It is our strong desire to achieve more. Our coach (Pep Guardiola) is always on top of us, ready every game as if it were the last one.” And he went to continue the celebrations with his teammates.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a New York writer.

Michael Carrick of Manchester United goes past Alejandro Faurlin of QPR during the Barclays Premier League match between Queens Park Rangers and Manchester United at Loftus Road on December 18, 2011 in London, England. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

With the Champions League nightmare slowly fading, Manchester United celebrated Sir Alex Ferguson’s 750th Premier League game in charge with a solid 2–0 win away to Queens Park Rangers in Sunday’s early fixture. The Red Devils took over top spot in the Premier League pending the match between Manchester City and Arsenal later in the day.

It was a thoroughly professional performance with the result never really in doubt after Wayne Rooney had given the champions a dream start after only 52 seconds. The points were made safe 11 minutes into the second half thanks to a sparkling solo effort from Michael Carrick.

This was the first Premier League meeting of these two clubs for 15 years. Rangers played the first four years in the Premier League after its inception before being relegated. Then, it was a long wait for the Loftus Road fans until Neil Warnock delivered promotion in his first full season in charge.

Anton Ferdinand was absent through injury and so there would be no facing off of the two Ferdinand brothers. Matthew Connolly came into the center of the QPR defense as Ferdinand’s replacement. Meanwhile, with Nemanja Vidic out for the season, much will be expected of Rio Ferdinand.

Perfect Start

United took the lead with the very first attack of the game. Chris Smalling, selected to fill the right back position, headed down for Rooney who played the ball out to Antonio Valencia on the right. The Ecuador international duly returned the favor with his useful cross picking out Rooney whose glancing header found the back of the net.

It was a perfect start, but the lead could have been doubled two minutes later when Nani played in Danny Welbeck. However, third-choice QPR keeper Radek Cerny made a smart block to deny the United striker.

QPR skipper and former Manchester City favorite Joey Barton would certainly not allow capitulation to the old enemy without a scrap, and drove his troops forward by winning a couple of corners. One of these, taken by Barton himself, found Heidar Helguson unmarked on the penalty spot, but the Icelandic international directed his header over the top.

It would be one of only three clear chances QPR would get, and if they are going to have any chance of taking points off the top teams in this league such chances absolutely must be taken.

Back at the other end, Danny Welbeck had the ball in the net but was adjudged offside. However, the replay suggested the referee’s assistant may have been a little too quick to raise his flag; the decision being marginal at best, with Welbeck justifiably feeling hard done by.

United had four more great chances in as many minutes but Cerny, with a little help from the frame of the goal, somehow kept his side down by only one goal.

Rangers continued to take advantage of any breaks that came their way, with Jamie Mackie in particular looking dangerous down the right and giving Patrice Evra a more uncomfortable afternoon than the Frenchman had probably expected.

The team from West London did have one more opportunity before the break but a wrong-footed David De Gea managed to scramble the ball away with his left boot in ungainly but effective fashion.

Three Points in the Bag

The three points were made safe for United on 56 minutes. Frequently underrated, Michael Carrick has looked highly impressive since returning to the starting XI, and this was another man of the match performance in midfield.

If there is any justifiable criticism of Carrick down the years it would be with regard to his goal return. He had not scored for 70 games since February 2010 but this one was well worth waiting for.

Carrick collected the ball just inside his own half and set off towards the opposing goal. He glided past three or four defenders with ease, gained the edge of the area and fired a crisp low shot past Cerny. The keeper did get his fingers to it but could not prevent the inevitable.

It was only Carrick’s 18th goal for United and the fans will be hoping they do not have to wait so long for his next one.

A goal to the home side at that point might have made for intriguing last quarter of an hour but it was not to be.

For all the talk of crisis, United actually have more points than they had at the same time last year and, on this showing still appear a force to be reckoned with, at least on the domestic front.

QPR will need to seriously address their poor home form if they are to survive in this league.

Chelsea's English striker Daniel Sturridge (C) vies with Manchester City's French defender Gael Clichy (R) and Belgian defender Vincent Kompany (L) during their English Premier League football match at Stamford Bridge on Monday. (Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)

Chelsea shattered Manchester City’s unbeaten Premier League record with a 2–1 win at Stamford Bridge on Monday. The victory closes the gap between the two clubs to seven points, whereas it would have been an almost unbridgeable 13 points had Chelsea lost.

City remains on top but are now only two points clear of local rivals Manchester United.

Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas told the BBC after the game, “It was a good win and it changes our challenge for the Premier League. After our bad run we found confidence which grew game after game and we put on a very good show against the record-breaking league leaders.”

Chelsea central defender David Luiz was serving a suspension, so Branislav Ivanovic moved into the center to partner John Terry with Jose Bosingwa coming in at right back. Blues icon Frank Lampard was in the unfamiliar position of bench warmer.

Mercurial 21-year-old Italian star Mario Balotelli had fallen foul of his manger yet again after a spot of late night partying on the weekend. Nonetheless, Roberto Mancini opted to start his fellow countryman up front alongside Sergio Aguero.

James Milner’s more defensive qualities were preferred to Samir Nasri’s attacking flair, and Pablo Zabaleta deputized for the injured Micah Richards at right back.

The City manager’s team selections were duly vindicated in only the second minute of the game. A sublime turn and inch-perfect defense-splitting pass from Aguero found Balotelli on the run. The Italian still had plenty to do, but effortlessly eluded both Terry and Ivanovic before rounding Petr Cech and tapping the ball into an empty net.

City could have extended their lead nine minutes later, but Aguero dragged his shot wide after having done the all hard work in beating three defenders. Shortly after that David Silva had a confident penalty appeal turned down.

In fact for the first 20 minutes or so City looked a class apart. Their one touch passing was a delight to behold and you might almost have though it was Barcelona out there at times. This, notwithstanding the appalling weather conditions in west London, where there was a difficult strong swirling wind and pouring rain that barely let up during the entire 90 minutes.

With Mancini’s men dominant, Joe Hart in the City goal did not see action until the 25-minute mark when he was obliged to get down sharply and turn Didier Drogba’s shot around the post. But Chelsea did finally start to settle and string some passes together.

On 34 minutes, Daniel Sturridge came into his own for the first time in the game and put across a ball from the right which was expertly finished on the volley by Raul Meireles.

Chelsea Turns it Around

The hosts were probably fortunate to go in at the break on level terms, but they certainly began the second half much more purposefully. Sturridge was lively and struck a good opportunity over the top just two minutes after the restart. As the half progressed we began to see a lot more of Chelsea winger Juan Mata who treated the spectators to several lovely pieces of skill.

However, the turning point of the match came in the 58th minute when Ramires in full flow was crudely blocked by City full back Gael Clichy. The former Arsenal man had already been booked and therefore had to be sent off.

Despite Mata now being the assigned penalty taker, Lampard took responsibility and powered the ball home from the spot sending the Chelsea fans into dreamland.

Chelsea has now won three games in a row since the loss at home to Liverpool on Nov. 29. Meanwhile, City tasted defeat for the first time and it couldn’t come at a worse time. The big spenders were just knocked out of Champions League last Wednesday.

One had to feel there would be some bumps in the road for Manchester City.

Barcelona players celebrate their go-ahead goal at the Bernabeu on Saturday. (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Barcelona came up with another championship-caliber performance, beating Real Madrid at the Bernabeu 3–1 Saturday night after falling behind with only 21 seconds gone. With the win, Barcelona took over first place in Spain from their arch rivals.

The biggest football match of the weekend in Europe featured the two best sides in Europe in “El Clasico”—Real Madrid at home to Barcelona. This battle wasn’t for a trophy—it was just a match in Spanish La Liga play, but make no mistake, this match had more hype surrounding it than many with a trophies on the line.

Both Real Madrid and Barcelona had been tearing up La Liga. Real Madrid came into the match in first place with a 12–1–1 record (37 points), while Barcelona came in in second place with a 10–4–1 record (34 points).

Horror Start

Victor Valdes, perhaps overawed by the occasion, played an extremely poor pass that was intercepted by Angel Di Maria. Di Maria’s pass was deflected by Barcelona’s surprised defense and soon after French striker Karim Benzema easily poked it past the careless Valdes.

Twenty-one seconds in and the home side in white was up 1–0. Real Madrid could not have asked for a better start in front of their home crowd.

A few minutes later, Lionel Messi drove toward the Real Madrid net after Sergio Ramos slipped on the soaked pitch. His left-footer was well saved by Iker Casillas.

There was going to be no cagey, careful start to this El Clasico. Sometimes big matches like these need a goal to get going, but this one wouldn’t be suffering from that problem with the start we witnessed.

In the 25th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo ran onto a clever pass from Benzema and had a clear shot on net. Ronaldo’s shot went horribly wide. One couldn’t blame him for shooting, given who he is, but Di Maria was wide open on the right.

Barcelona Gets Going

Alexis Sanchez powered one in at the far side of the net in the 30th minute after Messi did all the hard work to set him up with another one of his weaving runs through the center of the park. The visitors started taking control of possession and the game started to take on the expected pattern of Real Madrid counterattacking against the controlled passing game of Barcelona.

Early in the second half, Barcelona got their share of good luck. Xavi showed his terrific technique in volleying a high ball hard towards net. The shot took an unbelievable deflection off defender Marcelo and went past the helpless Casillas.

Barcelona was deservedly up 2–1 and in charge of the match; however, Real Madrid was always going to be dangerous on the counterattack.

But unfortunately for the home crowd, Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo was having an off-day finishing chances. After his miss with the right foot in the first half, he missed a wide open header as Barcelona’s defense was caught out of position.

Barcelona didn’t need any more encouragement and, as Madrid sagged after that Ronaldo miss, right full back Dani Alves drove deep into enemy territory and sent a cross to the far post which Cesc Fabregas converted with a diving header. The former Arsenal skipper made a terrific run to the far post from his midfield position to get the goal.

Real Madrid’s players had started to show their frustration after falling behind with Lass, Pepe, and Sergio Ramos all booked for bad fouls. Memories of the ill-tempered matches between the two Spanish giants from last spring started to return.

The top of the Spanish La Liga table never could be truly trusted until Barcelona played Real Madrid. In the end, Barcelona proved they have a bit too much class and skill for Real Madrid’s expensive squad.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney (L), Ryan Giggs, and Park Ji-Sung look on in dismay after Basel take an early one-goal lead. (Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Wednesday night was a black one for Manchester as both United and City crashed out of UEFA Champions League play. City won 2–0 at home over a second string Bayern Munich XI, but it was all to no avail as Napoli won by the same score over group whipping boys Villarreal. At the same time in Switzerland, United dramatically went down 2–1 to Basel, which meant the Swiss side joined group winners Benfica in the round of 16.

Comfortable in the knowledge that they would top the group whatever happened on Match Day 6, Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes opted to rest most of his big guns. Franck Ribery, Mario Gomez, Philip Lahm, Thomas Muller, and Manuel Neuer were all missing from the starting line-up with Bastian Schweinsteiger still on the injured list and Arjen Robben laid low with the flu.

Stefan Savic was a surprise inclusion for Manchester City at right back. Micah Richards was still suffering from a slight knock received on the weekend, but Pablo Zabaleta will have been disappointed not to receive a call-up. Mario Balotelli, James Milner, and Adam Johnson all started on the bench.

‘El Magico’

City had a chance to take the lead as early as the seventh minute but Sergio Aguero uncharacteristically made a complete mess of an attempted header, having done the hard work by getting into a perfect position to receive Samir Nasri’s cross from the left.

Five minutes later a crisp left-footed shot from Ivica Olic gave Joe Hart his first work of the evening. The angle was against the Bayern player but he at least showed that this Bayern side was not going to be a pushover.

This may have been virtually a Bayern reserve side but it was nonetheless compact, well-organized, and clearly designed to frustrate the home side as much as possible.

When City requires a touch of genius to unlock a defense, it is invariably provided by David Silva (“El Magico”). The City faithful have taken the little Spaniard into their hearts as is evidenced by the banners around the stadium.

Silva duly curled a free kick from well outside the box directly into the Bayern net but his superb strike was ruled out for a foul on Bayern keeper Jorg Butt by Joleon Lescott.

Then at the 36 minute mark, El Magico again lived up to his nickname, gliding across the edge of the box before unleashing one of those trademark left-footed strikes past the keeper into the bottom corner of the Bayern net.

Aguero almost doubled City’s lead three minutes later as he cut through the Bayern defense with a strong run, but his effort was cleared off the line by former City defender Jerome Boateng.

Despair Around the City of Manchester

City did grab that second goal shortly after the break thanks to some nice interplay between the front players on the edge of the 18-yard box, which allowed Yaya Toure to collect the ball and coolly slot it home.

From that point on City adopted a more defensive posture, though Gareth Barry did sting Butt’s fingers with a well-struck drive from outside the box, which was certainly going in.

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero looks dejected after his side were knocked out of Champions League play on Wednesday. (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

However, as the news came in from Spain that Napoli had taken the lead away to Villarreal and then gone two up, the City of Manchester stadium became quiet as the reality and hopelessness of the situation began to sink in. Notwithstanding the fact that several individual City players have considerable Champions League experience, as a team they are very much novices.

There is no doubt that they have improved as the group stage has progressed, but it was that nervous start on Match Day 1, resulting in a home defeat by Napoli, that virtually sealed their fate right at the outset.

Last Season’s Finalists Eliminated

The one consolation for the despondent City faithful was that arch rivals Manchester United were also ousted and will join City in the second-tier Europa League after Christmas.

Basel took the lead after only nine minutes when a collision between Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling left the latter pole axed on the turf. A weak clearance from keeper David De Gea then allowed Marco Streller to nip in and put the home side a goal to the good.

United enjoyed plenty of possession and created chances but it just was not their night, and the death blow came in the 84th minute, when Alexander Frei put the home side two up with a header off a routine cross that certainly should have been dealt with by the United defense.

It has to be said that this is a disaster for Manchester United. They moved to strengthen their squad in the summer in the hope of going one better than last year’s defeat in the final by Barcelona.

Certainly, one can talk about injuries, “bad luck,” and even the fact that the Basel pitch was heavy and not conducive to a technically high standard of football, but the fact remains that Sir Alex Ferguson and his team have committed the cardinal sin of complacency.

Looking at their group, the pundits declared it to be a foregone conclusion that United would easily come out on top. The English champions seemed to believe the tabloids, seriously underestimating both Benfica and Basel, and consequently paid the ultimate price.

Chelsea forward Daniel Sturridge had another strong game, this time at Newcastle on Satruday. (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

A 3–0 win away from home was just the sort of tonic that Chelsea and their beleaguered boss Andre Villas-Boas needed ahead of their do-or-die Champions League clash with Valencia next week.

Goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, and Daniel Sturridge made certain that all three points went to the London club, though the score did flatter the visitors with two of the goals coming in the last three minutes, while Newcastle hit the woodwork several times.

The afternoon began with a heartfelt tribute to Welsh international Gary Speed who graced St James Park for six and a half years during which time he made 285 appearances for the Magpies, scoring 40 goals. “Speedo” was currently manager of the Welsh national side and a mere 42 years of age when he committed suicide last weekend.

Game On

Jonás Gutiérrez was suspended following his dismissal at Old Trafford last weekend so the Dane Peter Lovenkrands was given a start for Newcastle. Raul Meireles gave way for Frank Lampard in the Chelsea line-up, with Sturridge retaining his place at the expense of the hapless Fernando Torres.

The first major incident of an action-packed encounter took place with only six minutes on the clock. Newcastle striker Demba Ba was hauled down by David Luiz just outside the penalty area with no Chelsea defenders other than goalkeeper Petr Cech in sight.

As the last outfield defender, Luiz should have received a straight red card but amazingly, he was only booked. Ryan Taylor fired the subsequent fee kick into the wall so Chelsea survived unscathed when they could easily have been a man and a goal down.

Most of Chelsea’s best moments going forward came when Sturridge had the chance to run at Taylor. The player who spent last season on loan at Bolton clearly had a leg up on the Newcastle left back and proceeded to give him a torrid time.

On 13 minutes, having left Taylor for dead, Sturridge surged into the box only to be felled by Yohan Cabaye. A penalty was given to the Blues, but the outstanding Tim Krul made a good left-handed save tipping Lampard’s spot kick onto the post and away to safety. Truth be told, Krul was off his line but Chelsea players also encroached into the 18-yard box in a penalty kick that could’ve been retaken.

Sturridge continued to be a handful, testing the Premier League’s most improved keeper several times and also hitting the post—all in the space of about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, at the other end a lovely flick from Ba brought the very best out of Petr Cech.

Deadlock Broken

The deadlock was finally broken at the 38-minute mark thanks to a touch of class from Juan Mata. It was almost the first time we had seen the Spaniard, with most of Chelsea’s attacking thrust having been on the other side of the park.

From Ashley Cole’s throw-in, Mata executed a delightful turn and cross from the left and Drogba dispatched a powerful header into the Newcastle net. The space Drogba was allowed was due in no small part to the fact that Magpies’ skipper Fabricio Coloccini had recently departed with a thigh injury.

The second half was as open as the first with chances coming thick and fast at both ends. In fact, Drogba should have extended Chelsea’s lead but hit the side netting, and then minutes later headed against his own crossbar when trying to clear.

In the absence of Coloccini, and then later Steven Taylor, the Newcastle defense that has looked so solid throughout the season was now distinctly porous and Krul made a few more impressive saves to keep the Blues at bay.

Newcastle Get Chances, Get Exposed

Before the start of play Chelsea had leaked 17 goals in the Premier League against 8 at the same time last season. It was their worst goals against tally at this stage for 11 years. It was no surprise therefore, that Newcastle had several more chances to get on the score sheet.

However, it was not to be their day as the woodwork came to Chelsea’s rescue three times, and John Terry was called on to clear off the line from substitute Shola Ameobi.

As Newcastle sought that elusive equalizer, they left ever larger holes at the back and finally in the 89th minute Kalou made the game safe for the visitors. Then in the second minute of stoppage time Sturridge finally hit the back of the net instead of Krul.

Truth be told, they were extraordinarily lucky to keep that clean sheet and will need to tighten up considerably if they are to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League title or make further progress in Europe.

David Beckham (L) congratulates Landon Donovan on his MLS Cup winning goal at the Home Depot Center against the Houston Dynamo on Sunday. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

CARSON, Calif.—The Los Angeles Galaxy are Major League Soccer (MLS) champions for the third time after edging out the Houston Dynamo 1–0 Sunday night in front of their home crowd.

Galaxy striker Landon Donovan scored the game’s only goal as L.A.’s three big stars combined for a moment of magic in a game otherwise bereft of good finishing.

David Beckham, who ran the Galaxy midfield, knocked a header into the path of Irish forward Robbie Keane who then sent a perfect pass through to Donovan. Donovan showed his tremendous class by deftly chipping the ball past Houston keeper Tally Hall and into the far side of the net.

“The pass he [Keane] gave me for the goal was absolutely fantastic,” said Donovan.

Donovan’s Predictions Come True

Donovan, voted as the game’s MVP, had made comments after Saturday’s training session that proved to be quite prophetic. “I think it’s going to be physical. I think the tempo will be high. And I expect it to be unlike the Salt Lake game,” he said.

It had been raining steadily all day in Los Angeles and it did so off and on during the game. And sure enough, the game was physical, fast, and much tighter defensively than the 3–1 victory the Galaxy scored over Real Salt Lake in the semifinal two weeks ago. The torn up pitch of the Home Depot Center did, in fact, look like a warzone.

Donovan also said on Saturday, “I would guess that one play is going to make the difference in the game tomorrow.”

The Beckham-Keane-Donovan goal stood out as a beautiful combination in a game that had plenty of drive and determination but poor finishing. As L.A. head coach Bruce Arena put it, “I think there were a few more goals out there for us.”

“We struggled in our finishing and Landon got it done for us tonight.”

Donovan began the match as a wide midfielder, but just before the hour mark was moved up top to partner Keane as the Galaxy made their first substitution. The ineffective Adam Cristman was removed in favor of midfielder Chris Birchall, which allowed Donovan to be moved up to the striker position.

“I thought Landon was the MVP tonight,” said Beckham. “He scored it and he won us the match.”

“The actual goal didn’t mean a whole lot to me,” said Donovan. “I didn’t care how the goal was scored. I just wanted the ball go in. I mean that full-heartedly.” Donovan’s comments typify how much more important winning is than individual accolades.

Typical Galaxy Win

L.A. has made a habit of grinding out 1–0 wins, having done it nine times in the regular season and once more in the playoffs prior to Sunday night. Having won so many games 1–0, Galaxy had a quiet confidence despite Houston’s defense and didn’t lose hope.

One of the unsung heroes in a star-studded roster, defender Todd Dunivant, said, “Once we got that goal, we knew we had to shut it down in the back, and we were able to do that.

“In the back, I think we won almost everything in the air.

“That’s how we’ve played all year. We kept knocking on the door and we had faith in it, and we got the win.”

The Galaxy owned more of the play and was a deserving winner in the face of an opponent that had put together a strong playoff run of road wins. “I think Houston put up a great fight. A lot of respect goes to them,” Beckham said.

For Houston, a Cinderella run has come to an end. The Dynamo lost in a final for the first time in three trips.

“We gave ourselves a chance. It took one goal to win it. Sometimes that’s what finals are all about. The guys were plugging away for 90 minutes. It’s a disappointed locker room and also congratulations to the Galaxy,” Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said.

Beckham Future

Beckham won a title in his final season at Manchester United and at Real Madrid. He has now done so in the final year of his five-year contract with L.A. Galaxy. Speculation is abundant about what he’ll do next, with talk of a move to Paris St. Germain being bandied about.

While Beckham, admittedly, struggled early in his contract with the demands of MLS, he has become one of the league’s best players, as he was expected to.

Beckham didn’t influence the game with his trademark free kicks, but instead with his work rate in midfield. He battled through the pain of a torn hamstring after dealing with back spasms throughout the year.

“David’s a champion,” said Arena. “He gutted it out tonight.” And as for Beckham’s future, Arena laid out three options: stay with L.A., move on to another team, or retirement.

“Whatever he decides to do, I support him 100 percent,” Arena said.

On this cool California night, the L.A. Galaxy left no questions unanswered and put aside the disappointing finishes of their last two seasons. And that too, they did it in front of a Home Depot Center record crowd of 30,281, the vast majority of whom went home happy.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports

Benfica goalkeeper Artur clears the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group C football match between Manchester United and Benfica at Old Trafford. (Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images)

An equalizing goal from Pablo Aimar in the 61st minute proved to be enough to secure a point for Benfica in their Champions League clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Tuesday. The 2–2 draw puts Benfica in the driver’s seat to top the group.

Wayne Rooney had failed to recover fully from a knock received at Swansea on the weekend and so was out of the reckoning. The return of Nemanja Vidic to the heart of the United defense has resulted in five successive clean sheets following the debacle against Manchester City, but the United skipper was forced to sit this one out through suspension.

Ironically it was an own goal by Phil Jones, taking over from Vidic in that central defensive position, that gave the visitors a surprise lead with the game only three minutes old. In fairness to the young man, Nicolas Gaitan’s speculative cross took a slight deflection off the inside of Patrice Evra’s leg and that was what wrong footed Jones, who could really do nothing to prevent the ball cannoning off his thigh into the net.

There was not a single native Portuguese in the starting line-up for Benfica, but there was one playing for United. For the first half hour or so virtually all of the home side’s attacking threat originated with the Portuguese Nani.

The highlight was a sparkling run on 16 minutes that saw him go past five defenders before being hacked down by Ezequiel Garay. Nani took the ensuing free kick himself and did get it on target, but the shot lacked power and was too close to the keeper.

Five minutes later United’s best attack, which unusually involved several players rather than just Nani, ended with Ashley Young scuffing the final shot.

When United did finally draw level it, was Nani who was again the architect. His accurate cross found Dimitar Berbatov, and the Bulgarian’s glancing header sailed into the net to end the player’s three-year Champions League goal drought. It was Berbatov’s first goal in this competition since he scored against Celtic in October 2008.

United enjoyed the greater share of possession in the first period but looked disjointed for much of the time, unable to string many passes together, with all their best moments coming from the inspirational Nani. However, they started the second half much more purposefully and took the game to Benfica, getting in behind the defense with ease and finding positions deep inside their opponents’ penalty area.

It seemed only a matter off time before Benfica would crack under the pressure.

Patrice Evra was having a fine game, and surging forward down the left at regular intervals by this juncture. His perfectly weighted ball into the area was latched onto by Darren Fletcher powering through from midfield and United were a goal to the good after 59 minutes.

But United’s young defenders showed their inexperience by conceding in that danger period immediately following the goal. David De Gea attempted a long pass when he should have simply booted the ball clear. His effort was intercepted by Bruno Cesar whose cross was misjudged by Phil Jones, allowing Aimar to snatch the equalizer.

Berbatov should have doubled his tally and won it for the home side on 79 minutes when he contrived to volley over the top with no defender near him and only the goalkeeper to beat. United had one last chance deep into stoppage time when a glorious cross-field pass from Rio Ferdinand found Nani out on the right. Substitute Javier Hernandez got his head to the cross but the ball glanced off a defender to safety.

Points Dropped

United really should have won this one and probably would have if Vidic had been playing. It has to be said that every time Benfica went on the attack, the United defense appeared stretched.

Certainly De Gea did not have an awful lot to do throughout the game, but the fact is that the visitors managed to score twice. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will not have been at all happy with the way either of the goals was conceded.

Benfica are now favorites to top the group with their final fixture being a home tie against group minnows Galati, whereas United have a perilous trip to Basel to look forward to, with the Swiss side just a single point adrift of the top two and everything to play for.

Galaxy striker Landon Donovan scored the game’s only goal as L.A.’s three big stars combined for a moment of magic in a game otherwise bereft of good finishing.

David Beckham, who ran the Galaxy midfield, knocked forward a header into the path of Irish forward Robbie Keane who then sent a perfect pass through to Donovan. Donovan showed his tremendous class by deftly chipping the ball past Houston keeper Tally Hall and into the far side of the net.

“The pass he [Keane] gave me for the goal was absolutely fantastic,” said Donovan.

Donovan’s Predictions Come True

Donovan, voted as the game’s MVP, had made comments after Saturday’s training session that proved to be quite prophetic. “I think it’s going to be physical. I think the tempo will be high. And I expect it to be unlike the Salt Lake game,” he had said.

It had been raining steadily all day in Los Angeles and it did so off and on during the game. And sure enough, the game was physical, fast, and much tighter defensively than the 3–1 victory the Galaxy scored over Real Salt Lake in the semifinal two weeks ago. The torn up pitch of the Home Depot Center did, in fact, look like a war zone.

Donovan also said on Saturday: “I would guess that one play is going to make the difference in the game tomorrow.”

The Beckham-Keane-Donovan goal stood out as a beautiful combination in a game that had plenty of drive and determination but poor finishing. As L.A. head coach Bruce Arena put it: “I think there were a few more goals out there for us.”

“We struggled in our finishing and Landon got it done for us tonight.”

Donovan began the match as a wide midfielder, but just before the hour mark was moved up top to partner Keane as the Galaxy made their first substitution. The ineffective Adam Cristman was removed in favor of midfielder Chris Birchall, which allowed Donovan to be moved up to the striker position.

“I thought Landon was the MVP tonight,” said Beckham. “He scored it and he won us the match.”

“The actual goal didn’t mean a whole lot to me,” said Donovan. “I didn’t care how the goal was scored. I just wanted the ball go in. I mean that full heartedly.” Donovan’s comments typify how much more important winning is than individual accolades.

Typical Galaxy Win

L.A. has made a habit of grinding out 1–0 wins, having done it nine times in the regular season and once more in the playoffs prior to Sunday night. Having won so many games 1–0, the Galaxy had a quiet confidence despite Houston’s defense and didn’t lose hope.

One of the unsung heroes in a star-studded roster, defender Todd Dunivant, said, “Once we got that goal, we knew we had to shut it down in the back, and we were able to do that.

“In the back, I think we won almost everything in the air.

“That’s how we’ve played all year. We kept knocking on the door and we had faith in it, and we got the win.”

The Galaxy owned more of the play and was a deserving winner in the face of an opponent that had put together a strong playoff run of road wins. “I think Houston put up a great fight. A lot of respect goes to them,” Beckham said.

For Houston, a Cinderella run has come to an end. The Dynamo lost in a final for the first time in three trips. “We gave ourselves a chance. It took one goal to win it. Sometimes that’s what finals are all about. The guys were plugging away for 90 minutes. It’s a disappointed locker room and also congratulations to the Galaxy,” Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said.

Beckham Future

Beckham won a title in his final season at Manchester United and at Real Madrid. He has now done so in the final year of his 5-year contract with the L.A. Galaxy. Speculation is abundant about what he’ll do next, with talk of a move to Paris St. Germain being bandied about.

While Beckham, admittedly, struggled early in his contract with the demands of MLS, he has become one of the league’s best players, as he was expected to.

Beckham didn’t influence the game with his trademark free kicks, but instead with his work rate in midfield. He battled through the pain of a torn hamstring after dealing with back spasms throughout the year.

“Whatever he decides to do, I support him 100 percent,” Arena said.

“I’m not in a rush to decide what happens,” Beckham said. He called California a “great place to bring up my children.”

On this cool California night, the L.A. Galaxy left no questions unanswered and put aside the disappointing finishes of their last two seasons. And that too, they did it in front of a Home Depot Center record crowd of 30,281, the vast majority of whom went home happy.

Follow Rahul on Twitter @RV_ETSports